Kiri stared blankly up at Odhu, who showed no signs of backing down. Her choice was made and her mind was set, and the only way Kiri saw this working out was by the shedding of his blood. Strangely though, he made no attempt to resist. Any strength he could gather to fight against Odhu seemed not to come to him, but he was not particularly upset or concerned about that. Instead, he waited for what he knew would be his end. And when he thought about this, he felt a sharp pain of regret in his conscious, and he remembered that Artemis and Art would not know he had left only to die, and he realized that he wished they would know why he left and that he wanted to come back. He felt he could make a life changing choice, but he would not have the chance, and he never would again. His eyes burned with tears that would not fall because he could not speak to either of them again, and he would leave something important unfinished and unanswered. But he supposed in the end he was going to die, and he might as well die and get it over with, because nothing he could think of and nothing he could feel would change that.
"Good bye," Odhu's voice rang in Kiri's ears, indicating that it was time for him to pass on. Kiri braced himself, because he did not know what came after a finishing blow, and he feared that bracing himself would have no effect.
Kiri did not know when he closed his eyes, and he did not know how long it took for Odhu to strike, but he felt like he waited for too long. Instead of opening his eyes to look, though, he felt with his other senses as the ground beneath him shook and an ear splitting, yet eerily familiar sound shook his eardrums. When a surprised yell and stifled groan followed shortly after, Kiri's eyes finally opened and he stared in blank confusion at the scene around him. The first thing he noticed was the massive body of a familiar creature. It looked almost exactly like Hobspid, the bizarre monster that tried to kill him at the Marauder's Lair, except it was bigger, with much larger black claws. The second thing Kiri noticed was that the limp body of Odhu was clutched firmly in the monster's grasp. Then, a loud crack echoed through the woods and Kiri turned to see the majority of Candy's small home collapsing in on itself, the wooden structural beams splitting from the pressure placed on them.
"My house!" Candy shouted out plainly, as if she was pointing out a casual fact, though her face reddened noticeably as she stared at the large monster and Odhu.
The monster let out a loud growl and turned on its oversized heels. Then, it launched itself back into the trees, taking Odhu with it. Kiri lay on the ground, still staring with his mouth slightly open, until a voice snapped him out of his trance.
"Kiri! Kiri!"
Kiri looked to his side as Candy kneeled down next to him, pulling out a strange glass flask full of bright red liquid and pressing it into Kiri's palms.
"Drink it," Candy commanded him steadily.
Kiri did as he was told and downed the whole flask in one gulp. While he did so, Candy raised her head and scanned the surrounding trees with narrowed eyes. The forest was deadly silent now, but it felt like a false calm. The strange weapon she pulled out earlier lay on the ground next to her, and Kiri eyed it with curiosity. Candy did not seem to notice.
"Are you ok?" Candy asked Kiri after a moment of silence.
Kiri nodded his head, but Candy still was not looking. When Kiri realized this, he swallowed and opened his mouth.
"Yeah," Kiri answered shakily.
"That thing destroyed my house," Candy pointed out flatly, "Now what am I supposed to do?"
"Uh," Kiri opened his mouth but could not find the words to answer.
"I had a lot of research being conducted in that house too," Candy sighed, "And you know how much time it took to make those colored lights?"
Kiri stared at Candy in disbelief. He could not help but feel that she was missing the entire point of what just happened.
"And then there was that sorceress," Candy exclaimed, and a faint flicker of hope sparked in Kiri's heart, "I mean, who does she think she is, challenging me of all people!"
"Oh," The faint spark of hope within Kiri immediately flickered out of existence.
Candy muttered something under her breath that Kiri could not catch, but he felt that he did not want to know what she said. Finally, Candy collapsed onto the ground with her legs sticking out in front of her and heaved a sigh. Her shoulders drooped and she eyed Kiri warily.
"You're a lot of trouble, aren't you Kiri?" She glanced over at Kiri, who was still sitting dumbstruck on the ground.
Kiri managed to pull himself together in the moment and spread a guilty smile across his face. Candy raised her eyebrows at him in an exasperated manner, but when Kiri just frowned with wide eyes, she broke out into a small fit of laughter and rested her head against Kiri's arm. She wrapped her two slim arms around his and closed her eyes.
"I'm going to be honest," Candy mumbled, "I've seen a lot of strange mutant creatures, but I've never seen something like that."
"That doesn't sound good," Kiri commented lightly.
Candy giggled, "Probably not. I've also never seen a crazy killer sorceress before."
"Well that might be a good thing."
"I would agree with that," Candy replied calmly.
Kiri sighed heavily and massaged a sore spot on his ribs. He was still recovering from the last time Odhu tried to kill him, and the second attempt only made it worse.
"At least she's gone now," Candy pointed out optimistically, "And just judging by that monster, I don't know if she's ever coming back."
Kiri could not help but shudder at that thought. It was true, Odhu had tried to kill him twice, but just thinking about that giant creature with its sharp, black claws carrying Odhu away like a helpless ragdoll, he felt a twinge of pity, even a faint desire to help. When Kiri thought back, he remembered how Odhu had led him down into the Inner Catacombs. That was when she had originally tried to kill him, but the more Kiri thought about it, the stranger Odhu's behavior seemed. She had thanked him for something that he still had no idea what he had done to deserve it, and even suggested they could still turn back. She had begged him to fight back, but arguably had made it very hard for him to do so. There was just something about Odhu that baffled Kiri, but whenever he thought about her he could clearly recall that look of sorrow that broke through her armored shell of apathy, and he felt an urge of desire to know more about her.
"She'll come back," Kiri shrugged Candy off all of a sudden and stood up.
Candy stared up at Kiri in confusion, with a hurt glint in her eye as she stared at the empty patch of grass they had just been sitting on together. Now, all she had left to hug was an empty patch of air.
"What do you mean?" Candy titled her head to one side, weary of Kiri's answer.
"We're going to go save her," Kiri declared with determination edging his voice.
"Um," Candy spluttered out loudly, "What?"
Kiri nodded absently, already staring out into the quiet, dark wilderness that the monster and Odhu had disappeared into.
"Let me get this straight," Candy sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead, "You want to go rescue the psycho sorceress who tried to kill you twice, from a psycho monster we've never seen before?"
"Yes."
Candy stared blankly at Kiri. No matter how many different ways she thought about it, she really could see no logical reason why Kiri would want to go after and help Odhu of all people. She wondered helplessly what could possibly make Kiri care so much for such a strange, apparently evil woman, but there was no denying that Kiri felt something, even if Candy did not know what. Candy seriously questioned agreeing to this ridiculous declaration, but she had a bad feeling Kiri would go off by himself even if she did not support him, and Candy could not help thinking about the last time Kiri had been alone with Odhu. If anything, Candy decided, she was just going along to keep him safe, and maybe she could convince him not to go through with his brainless plan before they even found Odhu.
"Ok," Candy breathed and grabbed hold of her strange device, "Let's go."
She hefted the mysterious weapon onto her back and stretched her arms above her head to loosen up her back. All the while, Kiri could not help but stare. Candy looked at him with amusement glittering in her eyes and grinned wickedly.
"Do you like what you see?" She teased him and spun around on her heels.
Kiri blinked furiously and shook his head. He quickly looked away, off into the depths of the forest. Candy stared at him for a few moments, feeling her heart drop with each second.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Candy asked.
In response, Kiri shook his head, a rather helpless smile on his face. Candy brushed past him and pointed in the direction the large footprints on the ground disappeared into. Kiri glanced at the ground and laughed in embarrassment when he saw the gigantic footprints, which were quite honestly very hard to miss. Candy just shook her head and started walking delicately in the same direction. Kiri trailed behind her, not quite keeping pace but not falling behind either.
"This should be interesting," Candy mumbled to herself, too quiet for Kiri to hear, as she glanced down nervously to watch her footsteps.
