"Right, now that we've got them taken care of, we can continue," Ghiki said, turning around and waving at the humans in the crashed airship. Then, with a graceful hop, he jumped up on Kogoro's back.
The light from the protective barrier that they had enacted using the power of their relics was still shimmering behind them, though they could not see it through the thickening darkness of the fog. Kogoro could barely see the ground beneath him as he walked, and Ghiki was thankful that he had his friend's back to ride on. Occasionally they would hear a call from Flurry above them directed them on the correct path that would eventually lead them to the lake.
It took hours, but it felt like days, before Kogoro stopped and held his paw up in the air and sniffed it. "Mud," he told Ghiki, turning his head. "We must be at the shore of Lake Macalania."
"Shouldn't the tree have noticed us by now?" Ghiki wondered, looking up toward the sky, waiting for a signal from Flurry.
Without warning, feathers rustled against Ghiki's back and tail. He jumped and turned, barely holding onto Kogoro's back, and glared at Flurry. "Could've warned us before you landed," he muttered, crossing his arms.
"The tree is thick and strong," Flurry said, completely ignoring Ghiki's complaints. "And there's no footpath as far as I can tell. Water separates X-Death and us."
"Well, you can't say it's stupid," Ghiki replied, biting his lip. "It learned its lesson the last time."
"How are we going to get across?" Kogoro asked, sitting down in the blackened snow.
"You mean how are you going to get across," Flurry remarked, looking up indignantly.
Kogoro was offended by that. "Just because you can fly--"
"Hold on, we need root and leaf, right?" Ghiki tried to be a peacemaker usually. The fighting between the other two could often get into a serious argument, and that was the last thing the world needed.
"Supposedly," Flurry replied, picking at a few feathers on his right wing. "There's only one leaf though, and it's well-concealed, and in a dangerous place near the center of the trunk."
"Ugh, that's a pain in the--"
"What about the root?" Kogoro asked, interrupting Ghiki's statement.
"The root is obscured by a thick black haze," Flurry answered, dropping his feather on the ground. "It seems that's where the virus-haze is actually emitted."
Ghiki watched Flurry's feather as it drifted through the haze towards the ground for as long as he could. Suddenly, he noticed something. "Guys?"
"Then how are we going to get to that? We can't rely on you to fly over there and get both of them," Kogoro was saying.
"I could easily handle it, rather than rely on you two," Flurry replied, cinching his talons into Kogoro's back.
"Hey, if you're going to claw me, don't sit on my back," Kogoro protested.
"Guys!" Ghiki jumped off Kogoro's back and made his way to where the feather had fallen. Once the other two were quiet, shocked by his sudden outburst, Ghiki continued. "Look."
Kogoro turned and lowered his nose to where Ghiki was pointing. Flurry even hopped off Kogoro's back and, fluttering his wings, examined the ground as well.
"The haze is coming out of the ground," Kogoro observed, speaking very slowly.
"But the haze..." Flurry spoke very slowly as well, looking up at the other two. from the root."
"The virus-haze has been spreading," Ghiki prompted, pointing down at the ground. "And trees, when they're growing, spread their--"
"Roots!" Kogoro's eyes widened as he made the connection. "The root must be extended underneath here."
"And we only need a piece of the root in order to be able to contain it," Flurry added, spreading his wings. He looked at Kogoro then. "That's what you can do... you don't need to cross the water. You can do your part right here."
"I'll dig for it," Kogoro replied, nodding his head quickly. "It's up to you guys to get the leaf."
"You must distract it," Flurry insisted, flapping his wings broadly. "Make it think it's being attacked from the shore. This way, we will have a better chance at getting to the center of the trunk."
"I will do that," Kogoro agreed, looking down at Ghiki. "I won't be quick about it. You two be safe."
"Wait," Ghiki said, breaking into the conversation. "Us two?"
"Of course," Flurry replied with a bit of a squawk that usually indicated he was smirking. "I can carry you, but only you have the dexterity to remove the leaf entirely and carry it without damaging it."
"So you're just going to drop me at the heart of X-Death and leave me?"
"Hardly," Flurry replied, looking off into the distance. "I have to carry you back."
------
------
Ghiki assisted as best as he could with Kogoro's digging. As they delved farther beneath the surface, he could hear the root extending, X-Death groaning. The three of them knew it would take a while for a tree to react to the attack... that was X-Death's one downfall.
Finally, they reached a softer part of the ground, through which a root could easily tunnel. The haze grew thick in the hole, and Kogoro coughed a little as he continued to dig. Ghiki cheered him on, sending all the power of the holy relic to Kogoro to help him persevere.
"I've got it," Kogoro whispered after a long silent moment when the digging stopped. There was a loud cracking and splintering sound, like the sound of wood being chopped.
That was when they heard and felt a shudder from under the water. A tremor ran through the ground underneath them, causing the murky black water to rise up and fall onto the pathway. The sides of the pathway that had been cut into the rock crumbled and fell, falling in on themselves, and the ground seemed to move in a wave towards them.
X-Death was countering Kogoro's attack.
"Now!" Flurry cried, lifting into the air.
Before Ghiki could even react, he felt Flurry's strong talons around his body, and his paws left the ground.
------
------
They flew fast through the haze. The branches of the tree stretched out as they circled from behind, intending to approach from X-Death's blind side while it was busy going after Kogoro, who was running along the perimeter of the lake waiting for the other two.
"There, in the center," Flurry instructed.
Ghiki looked forward, squinting his eyes to see through the haze. Finally, he thought he could see it -- a tiny shimmer of green through the blackness. He nodded in affirmation, and Flurry swooped down near the trunk.
Dodging oncoming branches left Ghiki with a long slit on the left side of his neck and Flurry missing more than a few feathers, but as they drew closer, an opening appeared. "Go," Flurry commanded, and dropped Ghiki toward the center as he turned to distract X-Death some more.
Ghiki fell through the air, but latched onto a moving branch with his left paw. Using this to swing himself upwards, he used the momentum and almost floated between branches as he made his way toward the center. The little shimmer of green kept his attention, and he always moved in the direction of it, constantly keeping his eyes focused on his goal. That would be the last thing they needed. The root and leaf, taken to a holy site, could have the ritual performed on them to seal away the power of X-Death for ten centuries.
Unfortunately, it would kill the hosts in the process. The sealing required three sacrifices of life force to hold it. The sacred animals were willing to make this sacrifice, each giving up his life to ensure the continued survival of the world.
------
------
What?
Sacrifice? Life force sacrifice?
That wasn't part of the deal.
That wasn't the agreement.
We didn't agree to loan you our lives in order to have them sacrificed!!