The wind was getting stronger as Ed and Bloo stood in the middle of the shadowy forest. The trees were shaking violently now, which obscured their airborne stalker even more.
Ed was clinging on to Bloo like his life depended on it, he was looking around fearfully, he was trying to get a glimpse of anything that could help their situation. Ed looked to the only person that he could see, Bloo. "What are we going to do?"
Bloo was scanning the sky for any sign of the entity, even though it was futile due to the tall trees moving around. "We can't fight this thing if we can't even see it, we gotta run!"
"Run where?! The last thing we need right now is to get lost in this eerie forest!"
"Well the last thing I want is to die, so screw it, let's get moving!" Bloo dashed off into a random direction in the tree line, navigating Ed by holding his hand. In a moment's notice, both of them were aimlessly running through the forest.
"That thing is going to find us!" Ed took a glance behind him, "Do you at least see a path?!"
"Nope. But we're going to be okay, just keep running!"
"¡El tonto! You don't even know where you're going?!" Ed scolded, "For all we know, we could be running straight for another hostile's territory!"
"Shut up! Do you think standing in the middle of nowhere, waiting to be killed was a better idea? You can let go of my hand if you think so. Right now, if we can get far enough, we could lose it!" Bloo kept running, pushing away any branches and leaves that got in the way.
"Damn it, Bloo. You know we could've done this in a better way. There HAS to be a better w-"
Bloo interrupted Ed and yelled at him, "A BETTER WAY REQUIRES THINKING, THINKING REQUIRES TIME, AND WE DON'T HAVE ANY GODDAMN TIME!"
Ed blew up, "¡LO JURO, SI MUERO DEBIDO A TU INCOMPETENCIA-"
Suddenly, Bloo tripped over a rock and fell over, with Ed following after. Both of them tumbled around in the dead leaves that covered the ground, and they landed in a small ravine.
Ed slumped over, holding his left arm in pain due to him falling on it. "Ow…" He looked around for any sign of the slime, "Bloo? Are you still with me?" The heavy wind pushing against his ears made it hard for him to even hear his own voice.
Bloo was laying face down in the ground, lifting up his face after a second. His vision wasn't clear due to dirt getting in his eyes, he tried to rub his eyes to help, but he couldn't get all of it out. "Ed? Crap, I can't see, damn dirt got in my eyes."
"Bloo? Where are you?" The darkness forced Ed to start feeling around the ravine in order to find his friend, since his vision and hearing were hindered. His search was successful when he finally felt the familiar feeling of soft slime. "Ah ha! There you are!"
"Stop poking me," Bloo raised his slimy hand up, "Help me up."
Ed took his hand and pulled him up, "Are you okay?"
Bloo was fiercely rubbing his eyes, "There's some crud in my eyes, but I'm good."
The clouds in the sky parted a bit, revealing a glimpse of the bright full moon. The recently revealed light turned the area from black dark to slightly illuminated, the winds were still moving full force though.
"I can finally sorta' see, we're in a ravine," Ed dusted himself off, "Looks like we lost whoever or whatever was after us."
"Oh really? Thank god," Bloo finally managed to get the dirt out of his eyes, "Phew, at least now we can figure ou- IT'S RIGHT THERE!" Bloo promptly noticed the creature sitting on a large branch up above, looking right at the two. This time, Bloo was able to see its features somewhat. It was a kipine, with no eyes, no beak, only a white void for a face.
Ed frighteningly turned around, he struggled to compose any words in reaction out of sheer fear. But after a moment, words finally fell out of his mouth in a hushed tone, "Is that.. the kipine we saw earlier in the paintings? The Overseer?"
Bloo's words trembled, "It looks exactly like the kipine in the pictures, that's definitely it," he reached for the crossbow on his back, equipping it.
"Wait, wait, fighting it may not be a good idea right now, we don't have Wilt or Coco to back us up!" Ed was starting to freak out, his fur was standing on end.
"We're pretty much at a disadvantage right now, the thing has the high ground and it has trees to hide itself in. But the only choice we have now is to fight!" Bloo loaded an arrow into his crossbow, and aimed right for The Overseer's head. It didn't even flinch when Bloo aimed at it.
"It's not moving when you point your crossbow at it, it doesn't even seem to feel threatened," Ed nervously crouched behind Bloo, even though his giant stature could not be well hidden with Bloo's smaller physique, "I hope we're not making a fatal mistake…"
"It looks like we've already sealed our fate," Bloo pulled the trigger, and the arrow flew out of it's chamber. It was aimed straight for the winged foe on the branch for a moment, but wind resistance caused the arrow to arch towards the left, making it land on the tree trunk, missing the target entirely. Bloo was annoyed, "Dang it! The wind screwed up my shot. To hell with this forest!"
The Overseer still didn't move, it remained in the same position, unprovoked by Bloo's arrow.
Ed looked over Bloo's head, quivering, "It's still not doing anything, that's so freaky!"
Bloo lowed his weapon, "I don't think that thing even cares about-"
Without warning, The Overseer drew both of its long wings out, and it leaned forward a bit. In a moment's notice, it took off into the air. The clouds were beginning to block the moon's radiance once more.
"It has taken flight again! Get down!" Bloo went prone against the forest floor while peering at the enemy.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Ed flopped down swiftly, he flopped down so fast that the impact of his body hitting the ground made a noticeable shake.
Bloo looked back and opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but he decided against it and returned his glance back to the airborne kipine.
The two saw The Overseer fly upward without any difficulty, even though the wind should've made flight much harder.
Bloo was confused, "How is it flying so well?! This crazy wind should be smacking it around!"
Ed was amazed, "It must be using some sort of magic. Look at it go!"
The Overseer was grazing the sky when the moon finally faded once more. Once it reached the peak of its flight, it swooped downward with sheer blinding speed, aiming straight for Ed and Bloo.
"IT'S COMING FOR US! WE GOTTA DODGE!"
Bloo announced as he attempted to move out of the way, only to then realize he couldn't, "What the? I can't move!"
"What do you mean you CAN'T move?! Get up! C'mon!" Ed was frantic, he tried to run too, but he couldn't also, "No, no, no!" His arms and legs were stuck to the ground like something was holding him down, it felt like the dirt became hands that tightly gripped his wrists and ankles, he thrashed around, attempting to free himself. "¿Què diablos? I'm trapped! Help!"
"Damn it, the kipine casted some weird form of Binding on us, It's like we're in shackles! It can't end like this, we must break out!" Bloo used every bit of strength he had, but it wasn't enough to break free.
The Overseer's sinister face was the last thing they saw before blacking out.
The sound of a large door creaking open was the first thing Bloo heard as he regained consciousness. He opened his eyes to peer around his proximity. It appears that they were still in the same room as earlier, with the podium standing by and the statue of The Overseer lurking above. Ed was lying right by him. Bloo, fatigued, stood up to go check on him.
Bloo shook his shoulder a bit, "Hey, Ed, are you okay? I think that forest was actually an illusion," the slime tried to wake his friend up, but to no avail.
"C'mon, Ed, get up!" Bloo shook a little harder, but the gentle giant remained asleep.
"Who are you?" An unknown voice appeared behind the slime.
Bloo stopped tending to Ed and turned around quickly. A hooded person was standing in the aisle of the room.
Bloo brandished his dagger, "May I ask you the same?"
The stranger hushly spoke to himself, "I knew I should've put more guards on duty…" He tilted his view towards the hourglass that was sitting on the podium, all of the sand drained down. "From what I can gather, you two seem to be delinquents, fiddling with items that aren't yours. In fact, it looks like you were fooling around with my property."
"Who's to say that it's yours, creeper?" Bloo pointed his dagger at the stranger.
The stranger chuckled, "It's maybe because I'm the leader of this church, young one, and you seemed to have just used my arcane focus. I sensed it being activated and thus led me to check here." The stranger pulled his hood down, revealing himself to be a changeling. His prominent features being his white skin and white pupils, he appeared to be in his base form. A mysterious black symbol was covering his left temple, and his albino hair was well kempt and styled back.
"A changeling in it's true form? That's pretty strange for folks of your race."
The stranger seemed offended by Bloo's statement, glaring at the slime as he spoke, "A slime of your size shouldn't even be trying to provoke me. You obviously saw way too much. You and your friend there," the changeling pointed towards the still blacked out Ed. "I would give you two the option of leaving peacefully, but due to you snooping around in my church and seeing things you shouldn't have seen, I can't let you go back to the surface."
"Why? You think I'll go rat out your stupid bird cult?"
The changeling was angered, "You do not say such vile things about our religion, our beliefs of The Overseer! You'll regret it," The changeling paused for a moment, and then smirked, "I sense some mana coming from you, you must be a wannabe wizard from some belligerent village."
"I can still burn you alive with my Fire Bolt, you pale loon!"
"Wow, you know basic cantrips, how outstanding, slime boy. You must've learned that a few suns ago."
"Don't test me, I can fight like hell!"
The changeling grinned, "Then hell is where you'll be…" He swiftly casted Mage Hand, a floating hand went and grabbed the hourglass from the podium quickly, and handed it to him. "I, Erugo, will show you how true wizardry works!" The changeling evocated a dark orb with static electricity flowing around it with his left hand, and the hourglass began to hover from his right hand. Erugo seemed to be preparing an attack.
Bloo powered up a Fire Bolt, a ball of fire began to form in his hands, becoming larger as he focused more energy into it. "Screw you and your cult! Rah!" The ball of fire became an orange beam that shot across the room, aiming straight for Erugo's chest. But the Fire Bolt all of a sudden redirected into the dark orb, and the orb absorbed it completely.
Bloo was shocked, "What the?! How the hell… What?"
Erugo smirked, "Simple spells from simple wizards," Erugo mocked, "You really think you could fire off an elementary attack like that against someone of my experience? Hmph, how bout' I'll stoop to your level and give you a fulfilling lesson on Fire Bolts!" The dark orb started to shine brightly, the static electricity on it became wilder, and suddenly a huge bolt of white fire shot at Bloo.
Bloo didn't have enough time to dodge, and the attack hit him square in his blobby body. The force of the Fire Bolt pushed him against the wall violently, knocking him from his feet. He slowly tried to stand up, but was very damaged from the attack, he managed to barely lean up against the wall. "I didn't know Fire Bolts can be that strong, in fact, that didn't even look much like one."
"Forbidden magic can make even the most basic spells far more powerful. You sheep are destined to only harness weakness in regards to wizardry. Only through The Overseer can magic reach its full potential!" Erugo instantly summoned a barrage of Magic Missiles that launched at the slime.
"I need this to work…" Bloo casted Shield in front of him, a magical barrier appeared and the missiles exploded on impact, it saved him in the nick of time. Bloo was clutching his injuries, "I should've packed a healing potion…"
Finally, Ed began to wake up, he twisted and turned for a moment, and stretched. He stood up as he was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "Hey Bloo, what happened? Who's that guy?"
"Your beastly friend has finally awoken," Erugo chuckled, "Bloo," he snickered, "Fitting name for a dead slime."
Bloo glared at Erugo, "That's gonna be the last name you'll ever hear," Bloo finally got his bearings back, "Ed, that guy is the leader of this stupid place, and he wants us dead."
"Oh," Ed turned around to glare at the changeling, "That's all I needed to hear, amigo," Ed equipped his warhammer, "Did the others come back yet?"
"Oh, so there's more of your friends lurking about, Bloo," Erugo laughed, "I want to keep this between you two and I." The dark orb began to produce beams that pointed at every exit of the room, the beams created magical barriers that covered entire doorways. "No way in, no way out. No reinforcements and no escape!"
"You're kidding!" Bloo turned to Ed, "How are we gonna do this without our full team? This guy is gonna be harder than usual to take down!"
Ed tightened his grip on his warhammer, "We may be strongest with all of our friends by our side, but..." Ed turned to face Erugo, "We're no less willing to fight without them!"
