"All right, so how are we going to do this?" Gerik asked. "We don't want to waste time fighting all these monsters."
"Fighting them is inevitable," Saleh said. "But we must reach the Black Temple as quickly as possible. We should focus more on breaking through rather than fighting."
"Do you think we'll make it through if we run?" Tana asked.
"We might make it part way," Myrrh said. "But the woods are thick, and the path goes around the temple before leading to the entrance."
"Any ground we can cover before the monsters overwhelm us would be helpful," Saleh said.
Eirika nodded. "We'll go as far as we can before then. Is everyone ready?"
The others nodded, bending their knees slightly in preparation.
"On the count of three, we'll run as quickly and quietly as possible," Eirika instructed. "One...two...three!"
On cue, the group sprinted into the woods. At first, they heard nothing but the leaves and branches crunching under their feet. The sound of their heavy breathing followed shortly after. And then came the sounds of the monsters. The three-headed demon hounds were snarling and howling, while the gorgons were hissing. Though fully aware that the beasts had detected their presence, the group pressed on. They ignored the monsters' sounds the best they could and focused straight ahead, putting one foot in front of the other while tearing through the occasional low branches and hopping over logs.
Suddenly, a Gwyllgi leaped out from some bushes, tackling Myrrh to the ground.
Tana whirled around as she came to a halt. "Myrrh!"
Saleh immediately turned on his heel, rushing towards the Gwyllgi and giving it a hard whack with his staff, knocking him off Myrrh. He then knelt beside her to check for any wounds. "Lady Myrrh!"
"Saleh..." Myrrh already had some gashes on her body, causing her to bleed.
"Don't move." Saleh quickly hovered his staff over her, releasing the soothing glow of healing magic. Meanwhile, the Gwyllgi was getting up, ready to pounce again.
"Saleh, get down!" Gerik drew back an arrow on his bowstring and let it fly. Saleh hunched over as low as he could, letting the arrow fly over him, piercing the demon hound's heart. The beast fell backwards, dead. Saleh helped Myrrh to her feet and they resumed running.
Eirika and Tana sprinted on, unknowingly getting farther ahead of the others. After a long moment, Tana turned her head, realizing that they were now alone.
"Eirika!" she cried out. "What happened to the others!?"
Eirika came to a skidding halt, turning to observe the forest around her, while Tana clung to her. They could hear the monster growls, which indicated that the others were still fighting.
"We have to find them," Eirika said calmly. "We can't afford to be separated."
Without a word, Tana turned and began to run in the direction from which they came.
"Tana!" Eirika didn't want to get separated from her friend as well, so she started to take off after her. But before she could take the first step, a bright purple flash caught her eye. She looked up through the thick branches to see a purple energy bean shooting towards her. She wanted to move, to get out of the way, but found herself paralyzed, her legs refusing to budge.
The same purple flash also caught Tana's eye, and she turned back towards Eirika. Realizing what was about to happen, Tana quickly rushed towards her, tackling her. Right as she made the tackle, the blast struck Tana in her back. Both princesses screamed as they hit the ground. Tana pulled herself into a sitting position, writing at the burning pain in her back.
"Tana!" Eirika got up beside her, cradling her. The wound didn't appear fatal, from the way Tana shook and sobbed, but Eirika lacked the ability to heal her.
"Master Saleh!" Eirika screamed at the top of her lungs, unsure of whether the sage would hear her, wherever he was.
However, her scream only drew the attention of a Maelduin, the man-beast. It leaped over the underbrush with its stallion legs, aiming its bow at them. Eirika stood up, rapier in hand, ready to defend. The Maelduin drew back the bow string, but before it could release the arrow, its body suddenly jerked, the strain on the bow string easing up. Eirika watched, her eyes squinting as the monster fell forward, collapsing to the ground with a low thud. Eirika looked on, noticing a hatchet buried in the monster's back. She sighed, realizing that someone had killed it from behind.
Her suspicions were confirmed as Gerik emerged from behind the beast with Saleh and Myrrh in tow. They quickly moved to reunite with Eirika.
"Princess Eirika, are you all right?" Saleh asked.
"I'm fine!" Eirika responded, "but Tana needs healing!"
"Of course." Saleh moved to Tana's side, raising his staff over her and releasing his healing magic. Tana felt the pain in her back ebbing away, and she sighed with relief.
"Thank you, Master Saleh," she said as she stood up.
"Are we all back together?" Gerik asked.
"No! Where's Ewan!?" Saleh exclaimed.
Gerik looked around, noting the absence of the young pupil. "Great..." he growled, unsheathing his sword and steeling himself for the search.
Ewan had gotten separated from the group as well, but fortunately, he had great running speed. He pushed on as hard as he could, only sparing a moment to turn his head back to look for pursuers. Unfortunately, while his head was turned back, he crashed into something at full force. Stunned, Ewan fell back on his bottom. What was that? It was too smooth to be a rock wall. Ewan looked up to see a towering cyclops looming over him, holding a gigantic axe in its large hand.
Ewan stood up slowly, backing away with a pitiful, sheepish laugh. "Uh...hi?"
The cyclops' only response was to grasp the axe with both hands and raise it over its head. Ewan cowered still, but also looked down, noting the space between the cyclops bulky legs. The pupil tensed up, then dashed forward, diving between the monster's legs as the cyclops brought its axe down hard, slamming into the ground with enough force to cleave the earth.
"Excuse me, see ya!" Ewan taunted as he got up and continued to run.
Gerik broke from the group once again, running back up the path in search of Ewan. He stopped to look around for a moment, panting for breath.
"Ewan!" he called out. "Now where did that boy go...?"
Suddenly, he heard leaves rustling above him. He looked up at one of the trees. The giant spider, known as the Elder Bael in ancient lore, crawled from the branches, down the tree trunk. Gerik stepped back, giving it room to crawl to the ground.
Gerik's shoulders slumped. "You've got to be kidding me," he grumbled as he raised his sword, carefully approaching the oversized arachnid.
The Elder Bael crawled forward, its legs pounding into the ground. For a moment, Gerik waited for its first attack. Would it pound him with its sharp claws, or would it spit some kind of venim? Gerik thought better of himself and attacked first, swinging his sword fiercely at the spider.
"Take that, you eight-legged freak!" He slashed at the exoskeleton twice, shattering it and drawing out some kind of green ooze. His third attack was a forward thrust somewhere between its many eyes. Gerik attempted to pull out his sword, only to find it stuck.
"Oh, come on!" he whined, gripping the sword hilt and jerking repeatedly. But no matter how he jerked, the blade refused to budge. The Elder Bael pulled back, screeching in agony, actually pulling Gerik with it.
"Oh no, you don't!" Gerik planted his feet and gave an even harder jerk, and the sword finally slipped out. However, the momentum caused him to lose his balance, so he stumbled back a few steps before falling on his rear.
"Gerik!" Saleh's voice shouted from behind him.
Gerik stood up quickly as the Elder Bael began to limp forward, slowed down by its wounds. Gerik glanced back at Saleh briefly, catching a glimpse of the fireball forming in the sage's hand. The Elder Bael stood on its four hind legs, spreading out its front talons. Gerik quickly and graciously moved out of the way of both the monster's attack and Saleh's incoming fire spell. The Elder Bael slammed its talons into the ground, missing its target in intended to pierce. Saleh unleashed his Elfire spell, launching a large fireball at the monster. When the fireball barrelled into the monster, there was a dull explosion of flames, the giant spider set ablaze. Slowly, its body disintegrated, and it collapsed into a heap of charred exoskeleton and ashes.
Gerik approached Saleh with a sigh of relief. "Whew! Thanks, Saleh," he said, resting a hand on the sage's shoulder.
"Don't mention it," Saleh responded rather flatly. "Let's go."
"Teacher!" Ewan called, darting out of an underbrush and running straight into Saleh's arms.
Saleh looked down, somewhat surprised to see him so soon, but grateful for being spared the search. "Ewan, are you all right?" he asked.
"Yeah! There was a huge cyclops back there!" Ewan replied, almost excited. "You should've seen me! He was huge, but I took him out just like that!"
Saleh raised an eye. "You mean you turned tails and fled?"
Ewan scratched his head, laughing sheepishly. "Ah...kinda..."
Saleh nodded in approval. "I see..."
Gerik smirked at the exchange. Anyone who knew Saleh knew better than to try to get a lie past him.
"We should get back to the others," Gerik said. "They were over in that direction."
Saleh and Ewan nodded in agreement. Without another word, they hurried over to where Eirika and Tana were waiting.
"There you are!" Tana called upon spotting them.
"Now that we're together again, we should hurry to the Black Temple," Eirika said. "Let's try not to get separated again."
Before they could move, however, a horde of monsters emerged from behind tree trunks and bushes. Most of them were zombies and skeletons, but there was an occasional gargoyle, demon hound, or gorgon among them.
"This is not good..." Saleh mused.
It was even worse than last year. At least then, they had a much larger group of soldiers and civilians fighting together to end the atrocity. Now the six of them were clearly outmatched by this horde. But everyone knew they had no time to waste fighting these beasts. They needed to conserve their strength for the Demon King.
"Saleh! Ewan!" Gerik called. "Use your magic to clear the path!"
"Right!" Saleh moved in front of the group with his Elfire tome in his hand. "Ready, Ewan?"
Ewan moved beside him, also bringing out his Elfire tome. "Ready!"
"Now!" The master and student hurled their giant fireballs simultaneously. The fireballs slammed into the ground together, causing a modest explosion and blowing up the grotesques in its wake.
"Whoo, that was great!" Ewan shouted.
"Now's our chance!" Eirika yelled.
Once the flames died down, the heroes gripped their weapons and sprinted down the newly opened path, hopping over the dead creatures and choking on the smoke and the scent of the burnt flesh. As they ran, Gerik struck down a skeleton warrior with his sword, reducing it to a heap of shattered bones. For good measure, he kicked the skull up through the tree branches above.
As they pressed on, Myrrh felt something behind them, coming at them fast. "Everyone, get down!"
No one dared to question her warning. They all dove to the ground in a heap just in time to avoid a swooping gargoyle that sped over them, bringing a strong gust of wind behind it. The heroes raised their heads, looking around. With the danger passed, they scrambled to their feet and resumed their sprint.
At long last, the gray, cracked structure of the Black Temple came into view.
"There it is!" Tana sighed with relief in between her panting.
The group ran up the stone steps to the large wooden door, thankful that there was no Draco Zombie guarding it this time. They could only hope that the Demon King wouldn't be able to use his full power within Ephraim's body.
"We made it," Eirika said. "Let's get inside before the monsters catch up."
Together, the group pressed their hands against the door, and began to push on it. However, the door wouldn't budge, for it was very heavy and quite rusted, having been untouched for a year. The group would not let it deter them. They continued to push with all of their might. Slowly, the door started to crack open, though only an inch with each burst of strength.
Just then, a black shadow spilled over them, causing them to freeze on the spot. They gave each other a nervous glance as they turned slowly to see the source behind them. There was not one, but two cyclops monsters stomping towards the temple, carrying their huge axes.
"Aaaaahh!" Ewan screamed like a little girl.
"I'll handle this," Myrrh said calmly as she descended down the steps to face the beasts.
"Lady Myrrh..." Saleh began to protest, but stopped when he saw her bring out her Dragonstone. Of course. Now that Morva was gone, Myrrh was truly the Great Dragon, mankind's protector. If anyone could defeat the cyclopses, it was she.
Myrrh held the Dragonstone in her hands, wrapping her wings around her body. Her eyes flashed a bright green, and with a fierce roar, she quickly transformed into her yellow, scaly dragon form. The others watched, still amazed at her power as they had been when they first witnessed it.
The cyclopses began to stomp forward once more. The Great Dragon rushed forward, tackling one cyclops to the ground, pinning it down with her weight. She then turned her head towards the other cyclops. Taking a large breath, she exhaled a blast of fiery dragon breath, engulfing the monster in the flames.
The other heroes glanced at each other and nodded, deciding to use this distraction to work on opening the temple entrance again. Thus they turned towards the door, pressing all of their weight and strength into it.
The cyclops that had been pinned down thrust its arms up, pushing the Great Dragon off, and she tipped backwards, crashing on the ground on her back. The dragon picked itself up, rushing forward and driving her head into the cyclops' gut. The monster doubled over, and the dragon pushed up, striking the cyclops in the jaw. Now the cyclops tipped over, hitting the ground with a loud thud. The other companions could feel the ground shaking beneath their feet as they continued to work at the temple entrance.
"We're...almost there..." Eirika encouraged, her voice strained.
A few more pushes, and the door had creaked open with enough space for them to pass through. They wasted no time, slipping through the opening to get inside. Saleh peeked his head out once they were in.
"Lady Myrrh!" he called out. "This way!"
With both monsters temporarily subdued, Myrrh returned to her human form. She flew up the steps with her wings to join the others, entering the temple. Now they just had to close the door to help keep the monsters out. Unfortunately, closing the door would be just as difficult as it was to open it.
"Give me room," Myrrh instructed.
The others moved away from the door, and Myrrh transformed into the Great Dragon once again. Pressing her head against the door, she pushed it shut with incredible ease, the loud creaking sound echoing throughout the temple. With the task complete, Myrrh returned to human form.
The heroes took a moment to look around the temple. It was just as they had remembered it from their quest last year. The walls were cracked with age, moss growing all over them. The only major difference was the lack of monsters, at least in this room. They were alone for the moment, so they took a moment to catch their breath.
"That was close..." Tana said. "I thought we'd never make it..."
"You mustn't think like that," Saleh told her. "That line of thinking is an invitation for failure."
Eirika breathed heavily, staring off towards the back of the temple. "My brother is back there somewhere, I'm sure of it."
"Yes...I can sense him," Myrrh said. "I can sense the Demon King's power. We must hurry to him. We must save him."
Gerik nodded. "All right, let's do this."
Nodding in agreement, the group began to proceed further into the temple.