Reunion
Zihark and Vince drew their weapons as they gazed at the parasitic worm monster hissing and flailing before them.
It's body was covered in thick crimson colored armor and possessed a stream of azure tendrils coming out of its posterior end.
After studying the parasite for a moment, the assassin grinned. "Easy." He turned to the others. "Keep me alive and let me do all of the hard work."
Zihark nodded.
As soon as Vince took a single step forward, the beast sprinted toward him with hundreds of sharp teeth bared.
The assassin parried its thrust with his scimitar and waited for an opening to strike while Zihark's spellbinding chants gave him strength.
The worm thrust forward at the scout again, harder this time.
Vince blocked the blow again with his scimitar, but the force knocked him backwards.
The worm hissed and knocked the blade away from its head. It lunged at him again.
Vince jumped out of its way and swung his sword hard at its back.
Its armor was impenetrable.
The rogue breathed a curse when it jerked back around and flailed at him again.
The parasite struck him hard in his left shoulder, grinding sharp teeth into him.
Vince cried out and swung his sword to stab at the thing until he was relinquished.
The pain was unbearable and blood soaked through his clothes.
The scout stood there for a moment to catch his breath and letting the Reian boy's magic soothe his wounds.
But before he could recover, the parasite tackled Vince again to the floor and lunged itself at his face.
The assassin rolled out of the way of each proceeding strike until finally he wedged his blade into the creature's mouth and through the top of its head.
It reeled back, hissing and screeching. It flailed wildly while the scout made it back onto his feet.
"Guys..." Engeius hesitated in fear.
Vince and Zihark turned to see what looked like more insects crawling up out of the ground and down from the walls. What looked like poisonous smoke rised into the air from the new openings they created in the ground.
The rogue grimaced. Well, that's not good...
Zihark turned to the other Reian. "Engeius, can you fight?"
He nodded. "I think I can."
"Good," the boy continued. "Help me fight these off." He turned to Vince at last and whispered another incantation.
Vince felt his strength returning to him again as the beast came at him enraged and in agonizing pain.
The scout stepped back and repeatedly had to jump out of the way to evade each blind strike.
Engeius fought with sword and shield in hand, cutting down the insects.
Zihark swung his own weapon to lessen their numbers, keeping them away from the assassin who was fighting to stay alive. Only a little while longer...
Vince had to think of something fast.
The monster screeched and flailed again, whipping its tail hard until it hit the scout hard in his middle, knocking him backwards.
Vince felt the wind knocked out of him as he hit the ground. Even worse, he couldn't breathe. He had landed next to one of the poisonous vents and the smoke burned his eyes and nose. He immediately shielded his face with his arm and rolled away from it as the parasite approached him again.
As it approached him, the poison continued to rise up, engulfing both of them.
Vince found himself backed into a corner. He shielded his face and coughed. He looked around for a way out, but there was no escaping from it this time.
The parasite only came at him for a moment before it hissed and convulsed in pain.
The poison was burning through its thick armor.
Vince took the chance and reached for the sword that was lodged in its jaws and tore it out.
The creature reeled back from the pain.
Vince didn't hesitate as he dashed behind the foe and cut through its unshielded body.
The slain parasite fell limp to the floor before him.
The assassin also fell to his knees in exhaustion.
The Reians finished the last of the insects in the room and everything fell silent.
Zihark rushed over to Vince to tend to his wounds.
Vince winced when the chanter peeled his clothing back away from his shoulder. The scout stared up at the ceiling while the Reian cleaned and wrapped his wound. After a moment, his gaze fell on the other Reian in the room who was staring at him curiously.
Engeius looked away.
Vince raised an eyebrow before Zihark was done and got up again.
The boy sighed and looked ahead at a new passage that had opened towards the front of the room. "Let's keep going."
The assassin nodded and wearily lifted himself up and continued after the other two Reians.
They continued on the path which winded up and around through the ancient tree's roots.
Vince glanced at Engeius and Zihark and then up and around.
The sun's rays shined brightly from the outside through tangled foliage. The sound of birds and other animals was audible from the overworld. The surroundings were also greener and clearer.
The rogue swore he could hear the sound of running water before they all came to a stop as they entered the next room.
The Reian boy looked around for a moment before they continued up the winding path up and around through the tree.
Vince gazed up and around. There was, indeed, water coursing through in streams within Taloc. While some were clean and pristine, others were contaminated with poison. This place is massive... Vince thought. It's like a fortress.
The path was clear and there were next to no insects scurrying around, yet something didn't feel right.
As they continued, something caught Vince's eye. He noticed one of those azure creatures darting across the path behind them. No one else seemed to have noticed. They only continued up the path.
Suddenly, a large azure tendril lunged out from the wall next to them and knocked Engeius backwards off of the edge.
Zihark swung around but wasn't fast enough.
Vince, however, managed to grab hold of the Reian's arm before he had fallen with his left hand. The distance down was a long ways. The scout winced from the pain from his injury.
The other Reian swung his staff hard against the tendrils until they finally retracted back into the wall.
The scout finally pulled Engeius back up again and sighed.
"We need to be careful," Zihark told them. "I have a feeling that we are getting closer to the primary infection."
Engeius and Vince nodded. However, the assassin felt especially weary. His shoulder throbbed with pain. He had to try not to make it any worse before they got out of here.
The trio continued along the path until they entered another alcove. It was dark and the smell was putrid and obnoxious.
The room was filled with insect eggs and cocoons. Webs hung low from the ceiling.
"Well," Vince started. "This is disgusting."
Zihark didn't say anything. Instead he walked up to the cocoons to see if any of them contained living people, but it didn't seem like it.
Engeius stood at the back of the room while Vince looked around.
It didn't seem like the room lead anywhere.
The Reian boy ran his hand along the surface of one of the eggs when he noticed that it was moving. He jerked his hand back when he also noticed that they were starting to hatch. "Uh.."
Vince turned. "Hmm?" Then he also noticed what was happening.
Zihark stepped back and watched next to Vince and Engeius as what looked like giant wasps were breaking and crawling out from their eggs. There had to have been a dozen of them.
Engeius drew his sword while Vince dashed ahead of them to engage.
The Reian boy began chanting mantras again while the other stepped up to fight next to Vince.
Thankfully, they were only babies and they died quickly.
After they cut down the last one, Vince noticed that azure creature again watching them from outside the alcove. After hesitating a moment, he sprinted after it to catch it this time.
The creature darted off again but before it could make it too far, the rogue caught it and cut it down at last. It fell limp to the floor.
Vince sighed and turned back around, but before he could head back, another creature ran up behind him and tackled him in the legs, sending him stumbling over the edge.
Zihark cried out and ran to Vince with the other Reian behind him but it was too late.
Engeius cut down the azure sentry with his sword and turned to Zihark who gazed wearily down from the ledge.
"We need to go back down and look for him." the chanter told him. "He might still be alive."
Engeius nodded and hurried after him as they began scaling back down the ancient tree.
Zihark prayed adamantly along the way that his new ally would not be lost.
The world was hazy and dark as Vince first opened his eyes. His body ached and his head throbbed from the impact of hitting the ground.
The scout groaned and struggled to pull himself together. He gritted his teeth to brace the pain, his left shoulder still stinging from his injury.
Slowly, the scout looked up to try and see just how far he had fallen. He couldn't even see the light.
Just great... He sighed.
Even worse, peering back at the ground and around, his sword was gone.
He breathed a curse. It could have landed anywhere.
Defenseless and weakened, the assassin continued anyway to search for the way back up to his comrades. Sadly, he was back in the maze where they had started.
As he traveled through the labyrinth, it was mostly silent. He continued wearily until he heard a sound from one of the chasms and stopped.
His skin ran pale as he turned to see another giant arachna running right for him.
The assassin leaped out of its way as it lunged to attack, fangs bared.
Vince lost his balance from the fatigue and fell rolling back to the ground.
The spider lunged at him again when the scout shoved his boot square into its venomous jaws, sending it back.
It hissed and screeched as Vince struggled to get up again only to see even more insects coming to the enemy's aid.
The spider lunged again, knocking the scout back down.
Vince cried out from the pain and fought furiously to shove the creature away from him. His exhaustion made it futile.
It felt like almost an eternity until the struggle stopped and the enemies began to flee.
Confused, the scout pulled himself up and turned.
Standing behind him was a massive wooden armoured giant wielding a great sword.
Vince blinked. "Hey there big guy."
After another moment, he reached out a hand to help him up.
Hesitantly, the scout took hold of his hand as he got back on his feet.
"Why are you here?" The giant asked him, his voice extremely familiar.
"Wait." The scout stared at him quizzically before realizing the identity of his savior. "Arthen?"
He nodded.
Vince smiled. "Someone could ask you the same question." He paused before continuing. "Can't say that it is a bad look for you."
Arthen said nothing. Instead he turned towards one of the channels. "We need to keep moving."
The assassin nodded in agreement before his smile faded. "Wait, where is Tina?"
The templar looked back at him. "She's somewhere safe. I am the only one that came here."
Vince sighed with relief. Tina...
"Well, come on." Arthen continued forward.
The scout paused for a moment before following. "I am actually looking for someone. I was with two others before we got separated."
Arthen turned. "Who?"
"They're Reians." He told him. "They're somewhere up in the top..." He grew quiet. "I sort of fell.."
The templar nodded. "We should meet them on the way then." After another moment, he reached over and pulled a long slender sword from his scabbard and handed it to Vince. "You will probably need this."
Vince nodded again and took the blade from him. "Thanks. I kind of lost mine..."
"Yeah," Arthen told him. "I noticed."
Vince chuckled lightly from embarrassment before the two continued forward. The scout followed him through each chasm until things started to look familiar again. "So..." the assassin started. "What exactly are you doing down here anyway?"
"Accident," Arthen told him. "But this place feels alive and there is something evil here."
Sounds like something that Reian kid was saying, Vince thought.
"I don't know. I had a vision when I came here. It might be connected to other problems Gelkmaros is experiencing." Arthen paused. "I will explain more about it later."
The two kept going until they were out of the dark chasms and back into the boughs of Taloc. The surroundings were green and brighter now. The path also seemed clear up until this point, but that was always subject to change in this place.
They continued along the winding path as familiar azure tendrils thrust from the crevices in the walls and retracted violently as Arthen forced his way through them.
Vince followed closely behind through streams of water and violet hued sap as well as foliage and tendrils until he heard a familiar sound.
Zihark and Engeius were close by, but it sounded like they were fighting something.
"They're close by!" Vince started. "I can hear them!"
"Wait." Arthen stopped.
The scout came to a hault also when he realized that they were being surrounded again by pesky creatures.
Arachnas, Sheluks, Sparkies, and Dionaes - There were too many of them.
"Go on ahead to your friends." Arthen told him. "I can hold these off."
Vince nodded and darted off ahead on the path as the templar engaged.
Just a little ways up the path he found Zihark and Engeius. It looked like they had made it a ways back down the path before they were stopped. Vince had showed up just as they were finishing the last of them, the chanter's blessings keeping them from exhaustion.
Zihark's face lit up when he saw the rogue rushing to their aid while Engeius continued hacking away at the azure sentries and various spiders and parasites.
Vince gripped his sword and swung through the enemies, carving through them until they were no longer a threat to anyone.
Out of breath, Engeius looked over at the asmodian. "Thank you."
Zihark nodded. "I am glad you're okay."
"We're not done yet," Vince told him. "I have a friend that is still in trouble. Come on, hurry!"
Though confused, the two Reians followed Vince as he rushed back down the path where Arthen was still fighting more hoards of the enemy by himself.
Before Vince and Engeius could tear into more enemies, there was another red glow and the battle was over.
Zihark froze when he saw the templar clad in armor of the Elim. "Your friend?"
"Yeah." Vince lowered his sword and sighed. "From way back." A sly smile fell on his face.
"Asmodian?" The Reian boy inquired.
Arthen turned to the two Reians, still staring at him in awe. "I am."
Zihark shook his head. "I don't understand."
"What do you mean?" Vince tilted his head.
After another moment of silence Zihark regained his composure. "I see." He paused. "Seeing that you are a trusted friend of Taloc, you are my friend as well."
Arthen smiled. "I'd hope so."
"But I don't understand." Zihark continued. "Why are you here? And why did Taloc give you his blessings?"
"I don't know," the templar told him. "But Taloc saved my life. I didn't come here intentionally. It was an accident that I ended up here."
"I don't think it was." Engeius interjected. "I think that it was meant to happen."
"Maybe." Arthen turned towards the path up. "I saw the spirit of an Elim when I was saved. It told me to fight the corruption inside of this place and gave me this power."
"Taloc's fruit and Taloc's tears." Zihark paused before continuing. "There is definitely some kind of infection inside of him."
Vince's smile faded. "What do you think it is?"
Zihark also turned to face ahead. "I don't know but there is only one way to find out."
The others agreed and continued on up the path until they could see a giant pristine waterfall. It flowed down the ledge creating all of the streams and pools they had seen earlier. It was beautiful.
"Help! Help me! Is there anyone there!" They heard a woman's voice shouting in Reian. "Help me!"
Vince and Arthen paused and turned to eachother before following when Zihark and Engeius rushed ahead.
Further up the path left of the waterfall was indeed a Reian woman clad in light armor wielding a sword. She was weary defending herself from what looked like a giant spider. It was bigger than any of the ones they had fought previously.
As they approached, the spider turned and the female Reian fell limp to the floor.
Engeius clenched his teeth as he rushed to her. "No! Tealen!"
Vince dashed behind the spider before it could do anymore and sliced clean through it, ending its life.
Zihark kneeled besides the Reian that Engeius was now holding in his arms. "It looks like she's asleep," he said.
The Reian templar shook the girl. "Tealen. Tealen wake up."
Her pale eyes slowly started to open. "...Engeius?"
"Yes." He told her. "Yes, it's me. Are you alright?" The Reian cradled her head gently in his hand, now tangled in her long platinum blonde hair.
"Wow. What happened?" She paused now more aware. "Who are these people." She looked directly at Arthen.
"Friends." Engeius told her. "They saved me."
"What about the others?" Tealen continued. "Hyas?"
"I don't know." He told her. "A lot of our team didn't make it."
"I see." She grew quiet for a moment before finally pulling herself back up to her feet.
"I'm sorry." Zihark told her.
She shook her head. "They fought bravely." She paused and turned away from them. "Queen Mosqua's nest is just ahead."
"Queen Mosqua?" Zihark asked.
She nodded and turned back towards the other four. "Before our team was separated, we discovered that she might be the source of the infection."
Engeius nodded. "Destroying her might mean saving Taloc."
"It's settled then." Vince finally said.
Zihark turned to him. "What do you mean?"
The assassin smiled. "We go in there, defeat this Queen Mosqua and finally get the hell out of here."
The Reian boy nodded.
Arthen gripped his great sword and looked on ahead. "Well, let's go."
They all followed the templar as he made his way forward into another cove filled with insect eggs. Among the eggs was also a giant egg in the center of the room and with it was the queen.
Mosqua was a giant Supraklaw, a pronged wasp-like creature protected by its hard exterior. On its forehead was its eye, an emerald hued orb embedded into its skin. She carefully patrolled her nest unaware of her new guests.
As Arthen and the others entered the room, the queen finally took notice of them.
Mosqua turned to face them. After a moment of studying them, she called and beat her wings.
"Uhh," Vince started. "What is it doing?"
Before anyone could answer, the entrance behind them was blocked by a sudden growth of thick vines. Even worse, the eggs in the room started to hatch.
"Just great." Vince turned to Arthen. "A plan would be nice."
The templar nodded and turned to the scout and the Reians. "Take care of the eggs and the hatchlings first while I hold the queen's attention." He looked over at Zihark. "Make sure no one gets hurt."
Zihark nodded. "Understood."
Arthen turned back towards the room and waited for a moment before finally charging at the queen. "Go!"
Vince and the others rushed to every corner of the room, hacking and slashing through eggs and hatching insects before they were outnumbered.
Arthen swung fiercely at the queen only to be evaded as it hovered from side to side over him.
After another moment, the queen beat her wings and rammed hard into the asmodian knight.
Arthen parried the blow with his sword and pushed her back.
"Why are there so many of these damn things?" Vince cut through egg after egg as more and more started to hatch. Soon they were hatching faster than they could get to them. He paused to look around to find that the others were having the same problem. Not good...
After another moment, Mosqua called out again and beat her wings.
Now even more eggs started to hatch in response to her as the others scrambled to keep them away from Arthen.
Arthen swung at the queen again, only scratching at her body when he noticed that another drone had accompanied her. It was atleast half her size and definitely not a hatchling.
The asmodian knight only took his sight off of the queen for a moment when she rammed right into him and knocked him to the ground.
Zihark breathed a curse and ran to help him before he realized that the summoned drone was already heading right for him.
The queen stabbed at Arthen's armor with its sharp prongs, tearing into him before he finally knocked her back again with his sword square in its eye.
The queen reeled back in pain and screeched.
As more insects hatched from their eggs, they were beginning to be surrounded.
Arthen quickly pulled himself back up to his feet.
However, Zihark was still in trouble.
Without thinking,Tealen stopped hacking at the hatchling spawn and turned to swing her sword wildly at the queen's drone before it's jaws found the chanter.
A direct blow to the creature's abdomen and it fell limp to the floor.
Zihark's relief quickly faded into panic as he also realized that they were starting to be overwhelmed.
Vince looked over at Engeius and then back at Arthen.
The queen continued to ram into the templar hard to knock him down, however he continued to block each blow until he found himself pinned against the egg in the center of the room. Finally he grabbed hold of her, smashing her into the ground never to rise again.
"A little help here!" Vince reminded him as the others continued to struggle to hold off the rest of the enemies.
In a single cast, Arthen pulled them all into him with ropes of aether and destroyed them with a swift swing of his sword. The red glow of Taloc's tear permeated his fist.
At the same time, the vines blocking the entrance retracted back into the walls.
"Well, that was easy." Vince said as he brushed himself off.
Zihark looked down and around but something didn't feel right. "I don't think we are done," the Reian told them.
"I think you're right," Arthen agreed. "But what else is there?"
Tealen looked over at Engeius and then back at the asmodian knight. "Our expedition didn't make it any farther than this."
"Hmm." Arthen looked around also. He paused before finally noticing a large hole in the ceiling. "Maybe up there?"
Vince stared at the giant unhatched egg in the center of the room before finally swinging his sword at it.
When it broke, it revealed a noxious gas vent underneath that pushed up into the room above.
Vince stepped back. "Well, that's gross."
"No, this will work." Arthen told him.
Zihark looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"
"The aether in here isn't rich enough for us to be able to fly, however," Arthen continued. "We might be able to glide to the upper level using this."
"Gross." Vince interjected.
Arthen sighed.
"There is one problem with that plan," Zihark told him. "We can't."
"Why not?" Vince turned to them.
Engeius stepped forward and exhaled before finally displaying his wings. One single broken red wing materialized on his back.
Zihark said nothing.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Vince's gaze fell to the floor.
Tealen shook her head. "It's a long story. Something happened to our people a long time ago and since then we have grown weak."
"I see." Arthen paused for a moment. "Then I guess you will have to stay behind."
Zihark looked back at the asmodians. "I know that you two can save Taloc. The rest of us will find a way out of here and get to safety."
Arthen nodded. "We will meet back with you when we are done."
The Reian boy nodded before chanting a final blessing for Vince and Arthen. Afterwards, he and the other Reians hurried back out of the room.
Vince grimaced. "I can't believe we are doing this."
Arthen stretched and displayed his large ebon wings before standing over the vent and letting the current push him up into the upper level.
The scout watched in disgust and debated whether or not he should really do this. After another moment, his black wings materialized and he followed after his comrade.
On the surface, what they saw was both incredible and terrifying.
The room was filled with more giant eggs surrounded by azure sentries.
Arthen drew his sword as he surveyed the room and noticed an empty pool in the far east side of the room.
None of the azure creatures seemed to notice as Vince approached them either. "What is going on here?" The scout looked over at Arthen.
The templar looked back at him. "I don't know." After another moment, he took his sword and swung it right through one of the eggs, tearing it open.
When it opened, there was an explosion and the creatures surrounding it fell limp to the floor.
At the same time the other creatures started to notice.
"That's it!" Vince started.
"We need to hurry." Arthen rushed across the room cutting through the eggs as he went and destroying the sentries as they followed him.
After a moment, Vince did the same across the other side of the room.
It wasn't long until the room fell completely silent and all the eggs and the sentries had been destroyed.
"That's it?" Sword in hand, Vince turned to Arthen.
The knight's gaze fell on the pool in the far side of the room where he saw one final sentry standing at its edge.
Vince turned and saw it as well. Without hesitation, the scout lunged at it with his sword only for it to elude him and escape into a small crevice in the wall.
"Huh..." Vince looked up at the high wooden ceiling. "I wonder where-"
A sudden shift in the ground interrupted him.
"What the hell?" Vince stared at the water as Arthen ran to his side.
However, before he could, a giant azure creature emerged from the water. It had a dozen long tendrils and towered over the two asmodians.
"Vince, GET BACK!" Arthen shouted.
The rogue stared up at the monster, petrified.
In one swift swing, the creature smashed one of its tentacles into Vince sending him flying to the other side of the room where he crashed into the wall unconscious.
The templar breathed a curse as the monster now set its eyes on him. Only he could fight it with the Elim's blessing. That much was clear.
The monster lashed another tendril at the templar this time.
Arthen fought off each attack with his blade in an attempt to weaken it, but it was futile.
It wasn't long before the monster grasped the hero with its tendrils, constricting him.
The knight braced himself for the pain, but the armor protected him from being crushed.
In frustration, it tossed Arthen back down to the floor face down into the water.
The asmodian struggled to get back on his feet before the creature whipped him again sending him spiraling back down to the ground.
More azure tendrils protruded from the walls around him as the monster prepared for it's next attack.
As Arthen made it back onto his feet, he was showered with what looked like spores. His head started to spin but he kept his focus. He swung again.
The creature reeled back and hissed after being cut again by the knight's sword. However, it had another trick up its sleeve.
Azure sentries began to spawn from its own body.
Arthen stepped back as the sentries started to swarm him as he struggled to slay them one by one. The poison and the battle was starting to take its toll on him.
Once again, the enemy grasped him in its tendrils and lifted him up and slammed him back down into the floor.
The pain started to feel almost bone shattering.
The templar scrambled back up to his feet before finally activating Taloc's tear once again.
The red glow and the blast from the item caused the creature to hiss and convulse.
Arthen swung his sword hard again at the enemy, slicing through its tendrils and its body.
The enemy lashed in rage at the templar as it became weaker and eventually came to a halt and fell limp to the floor.
The knight fell to his knees.
It was over.
The templar stared at the corpse of the fallen parasite, weary and out of breath. After another moment, he rushed to the other side of the room to Vince's aid at last.
Vince looked up at him and smiled. "You did it."
Arthen nodded. "Now we need to get out of here."
Vince nodded and tried to pull himself up. The pain in his shoulder still made him cringe more than anything. However, he still felt rattled from being tossed.
Before they could go anywhere, someone approached them from behind.
It was the spirit of an Elim.
Arthen turned. "I defeated the source of the corruption."
The Elim smiled. "And I thank you, daeva." He paused before continuing. "As you might know, I am Taloc- The massive tree in which you have been inside this entire time."
Vince and Arthen listened.
The Elim's smile faded. "My origins lie in a fateful event which took place when the tower of eternity shattered during the cataclysm when one of the shards found itself in my roots and my body. Since then, I grew and grew and became the guardian of this forest. As my roots stretched and also grew, I became much more than that. However, to sustain this life, I have absorbed much of the aether in the land." He paused again before continuing. "Creatures have naturally lived inside and around me and came to me for counsel, but something changed and they became corrupt with the power that resided within me."
"I see." Arthen continued to listen.
"Yes," Taloc went on to say. "But thanks to your efforts, I should be able to heal and things can return to normal."
"I'm glad to have been able to help." Arthen told him.
Vince remained silent in thought.
Taloc studied both of them before continuing. "But I am afraid that there is still more to be done."
"What do you mean?" Arthen asked.
Taloc frowned. "On the outside there is more turmoil going on in our world than you think. It is your job to restore the balance and deliver justice to those with evil minds. This is the fate that is entrusted to you and your allies."
"Wait." Vince looked up. "Can you tell us more about this 'turmoil'?"
"That is all that I can tell you for now." He told them. "Things will reveal themselves to you in time when it becomes more appropriate. For now," He paused. "I will send you to your friends who are waiting for you. You have my blessing."
Before either of them could say anything, the Elim disappeared and their world faded to white.