As they climbed higher and as the winds grew fiercer, their pace slowed. Vincent could tell they were exhausted and uncomfortable, in spite of their winter gear.
"We're nearly there," he encouraged. "Probably a half-hour's hike left—maybe less if we keep up this pace."
Drained, they could only nod in response. And yet, Vincent knew that even if they could talk, they still wouldn't complain…
A crunch beneath his foot caused Vincent to pause, glancing down at his feet. He quickly stepped back, seeing that he had stepped on the bones of a skeleton half-buried in the snow. The skull had an elongated snout and a large horn—it clearly wasn't human, but, whatever it was, it wasn't alone; ahead, as the path continued upward, there were more of these creatures' skeletons lying in the snow.
"Like, what are these things!?" Shaggy managed to ask over the wind, as Scooby now sniffed intently at one of the upper arm bones.
"I'm not sure…" Vincent said. "These skeletons have been here for a very long time, by the looks of it—almost perfectly preserved in the snow. The way they're all lying here, it's as if they all…" He glanced upward, towards the summit, a look of dread crossing his face. "…As if they all died at the same time."
"Oh, like in an avalanche?" Flim-Flam asked.
"Perhaps… or, more likely, they got caught in the outer edge of an out-of-control spell by a young and reckless warlock…" Vincent said, the bitterness evident in his voice. "…I, most likely, am responsible for this."
Scooby, who had picked up the arm bone in his mouth, now let it drop back to the ground, looking a bit awkward.
"Are you really sure about that?" Daphne asked. "Remember, that other warlock has been trying his hardest to let your guilt do his work for him." She gave a quiet sigh, furious at how unfair it was that Vincent, as kind and caring as he was, could be gaslighted into thinking he was something horrible. His compassion was supposed to be his strength, not his weakness…
"Yeah, that's right!" Scrappy said, poking his nose out once more. "It's just been one lie after another with that big creep!"
"…I suppose it's possible that he wiped out all of these creatures to make it seem as though I did," Vincent admitted.
"Rheah, Rhi'll bet rhat's it!" Scooby said.
"Yeah, I say we just finish this home stretch and talk about this around the fireplace—maybe with some nice, hot tea," Shaggy said. "And maybe some of those tea biscuits, too…"
"Why not a whole meal?" Vincent snarked, glancing over his shoulder at the beatnik. He then froze, seeing one of the skeletons behind Shaggy suddenly emerge from the snow, standing to its full height, a whole head taller than Shaggy. The snout-like jaws opened, revealing jagged teeth.
These skeletons were the bones of monsters.
"Shaggy, behind you!" Vincent warned.
"Huh? What's behind—? ZOINKS!"
He ran—they all ran; as they traversed through the mess of monster skeletons, more of them stood up, reaching for them with their bony hands. Daphne suddenly let out a shriek as one of them narrowly missed her.
Scooby, very briefly, however, chose to make a stand after that. He growled at the offending skeleton, and then bit down on the creature's lower arm bones.
The skeletal monster let out an angered hiss and shook its arm vigorously, but Scooby still clung on in spite of his fear. The creature then drew its arm back, Scooby still biting it, as though it was going to throw something—and its gaze was fixed on the cliff that the mountain trail ran alongside.
"Scooby, let go!" Vincent ordered, realizing what it was planning.
But Scooby didn't react in time; the creature swung its arm out… and then detached it. The momentum sent the arm—with Scooby still holding on to it—over the cliff.
"SCOOBY!"
The others' voices had almost been in perfect unison; they all ran to the cliff's edge, but Vincent had already had his hand raised—
"Levitate!"
Swirls of green magic poured from his fingertips, wrapping around the falling dog and securing him. Scooby was shaking like a leaf as Vincent brought him back to the mountain trail, but only let out a panicked shout as, from their high vantage point on the slope, they saw a castle, far-off in the distance, suddenly erupt with a storm of dark magic whipping up around it—and in the middle of this storm of darkness was a large beast-like shape, with one of its eyes partly damaged as it glared in the direction of the peak, opening its gigantic jaws, and roaring. Even the monster skeletons stopped to stare at it, and Vincent quickly used his Temporal Chains spell on them to make sure they wouldn't attack while they were distracted.
"What… What is that thing!?" Daphne asked, as she, Shaggy, Flim-Flam, and Scrappy now hugged the terrified Scooby.
"It's him…" Vincent answered, staring at the beast. "He sensed my magic being used and finally showed himself. …But that wasn't how he looked the last time we met; I swear he looked human!"
That was, however, the least of their worries; the other warlock, realizing how close they were to the end of their quest, now sent several bolts of dark magic from his location, zooming towards the mountaintop. The snow whipped up as the magic swirled around the monster skeletons, and then, once the Temporal Chains broke, the snow and magic surrounded them, creating a monstrous-looking creature made up of snow and bones, carrying a sword made of ice in each of its skeletal hands. The creature leered at them as two glowing eyes appeared in the sockets of the large skull that served as its head—one of the eyes glowing less intently than the other.
The thing then raised one of the ice swords, aiming it at them, but Vincent quick cast Temporal Chains again, struggling to keep the creature in place.
"Vince!? What do we do!?" Flim-Flam asked.
"You're going to run!" Vincent instructed. "Our goal was only a little bit further—you can make it if you hurry—use the gate and go home!"
"No!" Daphne shot back. "We almost lost you once, Vincent! We are not doing this again!"
"Daphne's right—we can't go back without you!" Scrappy added.
"Rhease come with us!" Scooby begged, feeling terribly guilty—after all, Vincent had only used his magic to save him—if he hadn't had to cast that levitation spell, they would've made it to the gate already.
"We said we were in this together!" Shaggy added.
Vincent still struggled to hold the creature in place.
"Can't you think of yourselves for once in your lives!?" he said, through gritted teeth.
They didn't answer; Shaggy instead glanced at Daphne, who nodded, sensing what he was thinking.
"On three, Shaggy," she said. "One… two… three!"
Shaggy and Daphne quickly ran forward, each of them grabbing one of Vincent's arms and pulling him away from the creature as the Temporal Chains broke, and they practically dragged Vincent along with them as they and the others now ran along the trail towards the top of the mountain.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Vincent demanded. "This isn't going to work! We need to put enough distance between you and that thing!"
They looked back, seeing the creature lumbering behind them with both swords aimed right at them.
"…I think I have an idea," Shaggy realized. "…I can't believe it's my idea, though." He gulped. "All those times I tried to convince Fred not to ask me to be the bait, and here I am, volunteering… And those monsters weren't even real…"
"Rhaggy…?" Scooby asked, concerned for him.
"Mr. V, I need you to cover me with that spell you used to save Scoob."
Vincent looked dead-set against it, but Shaggy had already let go of his arm and walked towards the creature.
"Shaggy, be careful!" Daphne pleaded.
"Hey, Double-Ugly!" Shaggy called. "Over here! It's me—the mortal with that axe, remember?"
The fiend turned on him, and Shaggy made his way towards the cliff's edge ever so carefully, as though he was backing away, intimidated.
"Regrets… regrets… regrets…" he stammered, his better judgement now kicking in. "Ohhhh boy, do I have regrets…"
The fiend charged at him with both swords drawn—
"Levitate!"
The swirls of green magic now surrounded Shaggy, pulling him out of the way just in time; the fiend was the one that was sent sailing over the cliff this time with a furious screech.
Shaggy exhaled and crashed to his knees. Scooby bounded over to him and put a paw on his shoulder.
"Rhou okay, Rhaggy?" he asked.
"…I'll let you know when my heart restarts…" he said, shaking slightly now that the adrenaline had worn off. He glanced up as Vincent walked over to him. "Thanks for the backup, Mr. V…"
Vincent gently took Shaggy by the arm and helped him to his feet.
"Perhaps I should be the one thanking you for your plan," he admitted. "You've done more than could be expected of you, but I'm afraid I can't give you time to rest at the moment—that thing will be back. You've bought us enough time to get to the gate, but only if we go right this moment."
"Yeah, I'm with Vince on this; I've had more than enough of this place," Flim-Flam sighed.
"I think we all have," Scrappy added, still glancing over at Shaggy in concern. "This wasn't exactly a relaxing getaway…"
Daphne walked over to him now, and gently gave Shaggy's hand a quick, reassuring squeeze.
"Hang in there just a little bit longer," she encouraged. "I know you can. We're nearly there."
Shaggy managed a nod.
"Yeah," he sighed. "Let's get outta here."
Satisfied, Vincent began to usher the others up the mountain trail once more, pausing every few moments to glance back at the far-off beast that was still glaring at them—and no doubt trying to re-summon that snow-and-skeleton amalgamation—or, perhaps, conjure up something else for them to deal with.
It wasn't the threat of facing that creature again that was concerning him now; it was that form of the beast that swirled around in the distance, watching them. The enemy warlock had presented himself in his mental messages in his humanoid form; what had caused him to become this creature? Had it been of his own choice—a way to prove his dominion over the mortal world?
It wasn't the first time Vincent had heard of such a thing happening; his own ancestor's corruption had led to him either losing or abandoning his human form, as well, and becoming a demon—the final escaped captive of the Chest, in fact.
Had it been a choice? Vincent had heard back in his school days that a warlock's power could increase if they took a larger, nonhuman form. That had never concerned nor appealed to him in the past, so he had never followed up on finding out if that changed form was voluntary or not.
…But what if the metamorphosis was simply the eventual fate of powerful mages, no matter what they wanted? To eventually lose their very humanity on account of their power being too great to sustain a human form?
…And, if it wasn't a voluntary choice, then how long would it be before that fate befell him?
He suppressed these new, growing concerns; he had other things to worry about right now—the kids, first and foremost. If nothing else, he would, at least, ensure that they returned home safely.