Hey everyone! I'm back with a new update to the dota2 story, I hope you enjoy, we're in the finale now!

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Chapter five: Saving Tomo'kan, Part 1

Days passed, we finally returned to the Misty Wood. Hoodwink and I made it to our new dwelling in the tree and even though rest is deserved for us both…lots of work needs to be done. Now that we have the ingredients, we need to create the Gleipnir, we can finally assemble everything together. We spent all day following the instructions step by step. Sure enough, after long hours inside the tree…it's finally finished!

Our eyes glittered at the sight. We've done it: the Rod of Atos and the Maelstrom have been combined to make the powerful weapon: Gleipnir! As depicted in the brown recipe: it's a spiky metal ball with a chain running from its handle. The entire thing glowed as an electrical current flowed throughout the weapon. Hoodwink's smile grew ever more…she couldn't resist herself…now she finally may have something that can defeat the Primal Beast once and for all. Funny enough, she just had to make a maniacal laugh as I pulled away, "I'm going to hang that reptile like an ornament when I'm done!"

I rolled my eyes, but I soon smiled again. I felt the same as her in a way: a sense of fulfillment, excitement…maybe things will work out for us both…I really hope so…

We decided to finally rest once it got dark and the magical woods welcomed the night. It made sense…we've been traveling for days, and we spent all day putting this thing together. We had to prepare ourselves for the final confrontation with the interdimensional Primal Beast. This has to work…it has to…otherwise what was the point of it all?

I look toward Hoodwink, who's sleeping soundly without a care in the world. Man…Hoodwink seldom wears a frown, she's always just…so bright…even when she sleeps. I'd love for her to sleep soundly every night again…not have to worry about her home being trampled by her nemesis. I lay on my back again…stretched out and I make a small sigh, this will work…we'll MAKE it work! We'll put an end to this…tomorrow…for good!

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The morning came and with it our plans to terminate the Primal Beast were laid out. Hoodwink and I set off into the woods in search of our immortal prey. Needless to say, it took longer than expected. The ONE TIME we were out looking for him and he's nowhere to be seen or heard. What, did he lose a few inches or something? Gosh…

We searched through gorges, forest glades, and rivers for the damn thing but it's nowhere to be seen! We eventually became exhausted in our search: deciding to rest in a rather large tree for a bit before pressing on.

Above us it's the late afternoon with sparse clouds and the sun burning through the landscape easily. Though it's cold, winter's just around the corner. Still, it's a rather relaxing view of the upper layers of the forest and whatnot and I think Hoodwink would agree.

"I can't believe this…the ONE time we need'a find this buggah and we can't find 'em!" She said frustratingly, twirling the Gleipnir around like a toy. I felt my fur rising as I yelped, "careful with that thing, please!"

"Maybe I should use it on YOU!" She grinned evilly before I defused the situation. The squirrel backed off as I sighed loudly, "maybe he finally kicked the bucket" I suggested half-amusingly.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Dead" I explained simply.

"Doubt it, mate" she put away the Gleipnir and pulled out her hunter's boomerang and started throwing it. As to be expected it returned to her no problem and she kept playing with it for a while. I slumped against the tree, shaking my head, "maybe we'll find them tomorrow."

"Or they, us" she chuckled in response, "that's more fun."

"Yeah, okay" I added amusingly.

Some time passed; the sounds of the forest filled the air…by now it's nighttime. One sound began catching our interest suddenly: as both our ears twitched at the familiar sound…it's a Durana. It typically has a low growl, a mix between a wolf and an synth; however, their death cries are the most striking because it was always a deafening, distorted, banshee cry. Soon, more of them started sounding in the distance, causing flocks of birds to fly away above. Two or three such cries were heard…we knew that something was hunting them…and only one thing in this forest would be hunting them…

One of the most feared creatures of Tomo'kan are simple snacks for the one, the only: Primal Beast! Sure enough, we felt the earth shaking and it got increasingly violent. Hoodwink and I looked to one another, and we gasped in unison, our eyes widened in both dread and determination.

"Come on!" She wasted no time snatching her stash as I grabbed my own equipment, slinging it over my shoulder.

"W-wait…" I stopped her for a brief second. She gave a kind of impatient look, curious look back at me, "what ever happens…I just want you to know…"

"Yeah, yeah…come on, you drongo!" She rolled her eyes before proceeding. I sighed, shaking my head a bit before joining her. We raced down the tall tree to head off into our final confrontation with the elusive Beast.

Once arriving, we are met with blood and guts all over the trail. There was so much blood that you could taste the air full of it. There's no denying it, these are indeed the remnants of Durana…

"Holy free-holy…" I murmured silently, looking around. Hood pulled out her signature crossbow and aimed it, circling around to catch even the softest noise to shoot her weapon at. We expected a confrontation, but there's nothing here but us and these bodies! The sound of crickets and cicadas drown the air around us as we nervously circle the area…trying to pinpoint where the Primal Beast had gone. Little did we both know that we are being hunted…

Our ears twitched to the faint sound of the pounding of fists on the ground nearby. The growls intensified and got closer and closer before we were forced to look behind us.

"Look out!" I shouted. Trees came down and an earthquake ensued. Before I can do anything, he is already on top of us:

The dinosaur-beast used its head to send me hurtling into a tree while Hoodwink looks behind her in shock, "Caleb!" Before she could do anything, the monster grabbed the squirrel with its giant paw and brought her to its mouth. Before she could be eaten or crushed, I came in with a fist and my power allowed me to stun them momentarily. It dropped the rodent as we moved away. The former pulled out what appeared to be a bottle with a yellow hue and gave a quick grin, "I got an idea, distract 'em!" She instructed me as I nodded back.

"Gotcha!" I said just as we jumped away from the Primal Beast, who had just lunged at us like a bull. They had already angered them and now they were even more frustrated by the lack of progress. In a brief tantrum the Beast uprooted any tree nearby, one by one, and began the chase again. Tomo'kan's most dangerous creature tramples the obstacles in front of them to get to us.

With haste I jumped from branch to branch, tree to tree, until I ended up at a dead end…a cliff. I gasped as my ears drooped. Below me is more forest, but the fall would definitely kill me. I turned to face the trees behind me again as I raised my shield and huffed.

This brings back memories when I first encountered the Beast with Hoodwink, I thought, well, I'm not jumping again this time…

They came up behind me, eyeing me intensely with their unnatural reptilian, cyan-colored, eyes. I lifted my shield a little bit more as my fist glowed…growling at the monster, "let's do this!"

We charged at each other as the battle to save Tomo'kan, Hoodwink's adopted home…officially began.

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And that's the end of part 1, I hope you enjoyed this recent chapter! Take care.