Hey everyone I hope everyone's doing well this time of year. I apologize for the delay. Many things got out of hand between the change of the weather, daylight savings, and everything else that sort of got away beyond my ability to control. I have not abandoned the story, but I've been plagued with ideas, plot bunnies, and everything that seems to come at me at once whenever I sit down and want to write. It is maddening to have all the ideas I could ever want to write yet limited only to the fact that I'm a single individual, and for that, I truly apologize.
'The executioner's forest' Arthur couldn't help but think back at the name as he wrote on Nyx's back, with Keel and Jake at his side down the old Cobble dirt path that had led into the forest that seemed to be surrounding much of the expanse of the city. Slowly, as they entered, he couldn't help but notice the familiarity; instead, she hadn't smelled in quite some time—the stench of rotten death. Being in the Great Wide Open Spaces of the Wild West, he was no stranger to the stench of death from people performing Frontier Justice in hanging thieves, murderers, or highwaymen bandits with nothing but a simple rope, often perfumed The Many Roads, he and whoever would be a company to him when looking for money for the Gang. but unlike those times, the rotting decay stench felt unnatural just as it smelled putrid.
"This place smells awful. Is there anything we can do?" Keel complained as she tried desperately covering up her nose and breathing through her mouth, only for her to immediately regret it as she tried to breathe through her mouth, only for her to get the taste of that smell on her tongue in the back of her throat, which caused her even to let out a gag while trying to find a way to breathe without taking in any of that smell.
Jake, on the other hand, only flicked his tongue out a few times, unbothered by the smell. He looked at the demi-human tomboy and saw how Miserables that she was reached into his bag that was in his mouth and pulled out a scented rack. "Here, little runt, cover your mouth and nose with this. It will help you get through the worst of this. You should get used to this smell. We're probably going to smell it a few times if we pass through places like this. Believe me, there are far worse smells out there in the world." he stated as he handed over the merciful relief for Keel's sensitive sense of smell.
Without hesitation, she immediately took the rack and began to wrap it around her head, and immediately she felt relief. She could no longer smell the rotting decay but only the sweet scent of lavender in her nostrils. She was never one for flowers, even while living in her village, where many of the girls put on flowery things in their hair and clothes and even made a crown if anything. She would prefer the scent of mud and freshly caught fish, and only recently the smell of gunpowder was added to her preferred list of various scents that she would prefer smelling. "Thanks; I never thought a scaly like you would have something this girlish," she said almost mockingly, and from the small outline underneath the white cloth, she was even smiling.
"Oh, you think it's girlish of me to have a scented rag to help mask the smells of things? I don't think it's really girlish but rather practical, even though that rag you got was a gift for giving someone a nice good time between the sheets." Jake suddenly said while smirking at the young tomboy's confused expression before their eyes immediately alighted on what or who was the previous owner of this rag.
She could hear laughter coming from the snake, and even Arthur had joined in Keel Ward within herself on whether or not to rip the rag off and throw it right at the snake for giving her a rag that at once belonged to a whore or another woman. but instead of ripping it off, she simply murdered growling curses at the snake that only she could hear.
A small levity that had rained over the group was experiencing at their youngest expense quickly died as both mounts stopped before looking upon a horrible sight. On the path before them were long black-haired women in flowing white dresses strung up and tied onto wooden crosses that were on both sides of the path that they were taking, and by the looks of it, there were hundreds of them; they had stretched a great deal of distance. Seeing how very little choice they had, they started writing past the decaying corpses of these women, some of them having flown a buzz over their lifeless heads; others had rats crawling on them, going in and out of the small openings that they had created while feeding onto the corpses, but as further as they have gone through this path of dead women, the newer or fresher the corpses have become, unless pungent the smell of death upon them. If they thought the experience that they had seen from the rows of dead women was crucified, the next was even more horrible. massive trees that had nails that were hammered into the massive trunk of the tree, which was probably a large oak. What had made the site horrifying was the ghostly image of what looked like outstretched ropes that looked like they were made of some kind of flesh.
"I knew the people in the Old Capitol area, just by history alone, were considered crew bastards when they hated demi-humans, but I never thought they would go to this extent with their form of cruelty and execution," Jake commented at what he was seeing as he looked over a few more trees that had similar nails jammed into them, as if the majority of the trees here were used for the same purpose of execution.
Arthur knew he would regret having to ask, but his curiosity was eating at him about what type of execution was being done here in the past or in this repeated past. "What and how?" were the only things he asked while continuing to move forward and glancing at the ghostly bits of flesh that would appear and disappear.
"Disembowelment or the Red Ribbon tree execution, is where they cut open the small section of the victim's abdomen and place a hook-like nail just on the small piece that can pull out before hammering into the tree then Force the victim to run around a tree until they can't move anymore they either die from infection or the wildlife will finish them off that's if the Lord or lady or even king or queen doesn't do a good job at keeping the predators and pests down so there are victims could die a much slower death lasting from a few days to an entire month if they are unlucky," Jake explained grimly if he had to go executed by any means he would refer the headsman's ax or stretching by a rope would be preferable than the further displays of horrible forms of execution he could see I may quite understand why this forest was named so thusly the executioners forest.
The death-like macabre that surrounded all three of them quickly died down as they traveled further, only to be replaced with other disgusting horror ears hammered onto trees or tied under strings hung off of branches, and not just ears but also eyes and glass bottles and jars. If one looked upon them with absolute scrutiny and focus, one could say that the eyes were moving, following their movement as they passed.
Off the path, there was a small bit of light through the various trees, along with voices being spoken, and the smell of burning wood was beginning to fill the air. It was quite a reprieve compared to the smells that those who weren't wearing any scented rags over their noses could enjoy.
"We should ignore it and keep moving," both Jake and Arthur said simultaneously. At the same time, Keel couldn't help but feel curious, if not drawn to the subtle sounds that were starting to whisper into her ear but almost sounded musical. The smoke smell was piercing the face rag that she was covering her nose with the smell of smoked meat, starting to feel her nostrils in a hunger that she didn't think she could feel, beginning to ache and her gut.
'The Executioner's Forest' Arthur couldn't help but think back on the name as he rode on Nyx's back, with Keel and Jake at his side, down the old cobble dirt path that led into the forest surrounding much of the expanse of the city. Slowly, as they entered, he couldn't help but notice the familiarity; a smell he hadn't encountered in quite some time—the stench of rotten death. Being in the Great Wide Open Spaces of the Wild West, he was no stranger to the stench of death from people performing Frontier Justice by hanging thieves, murderers, or highwaymen bandits with nothing but a simple rope, often perfuming the many roads he and his gang traveled for money. But unlike those times, the rotting decay stench felt unnatural, just as it smelled putrid.
"This place smells really bad. Is there anything we can do?" Keel complained as she tried desperately to cover up her nose and breathe through her mouth, only to immediately regret it as she tasted that smell on her tongue and in the back of her throat, causing her to gag while trying to find a way to breathe without taking in any of that smell.
Jake, on the other hand, flicked his tongue out a few times unbothered by the smell. He looked at the demi-human tomboy and saw how miserable she was. He reached into his bag, which was in his mouth, and pulled out a scented rag. "Here, little runt, cover your mouth and nose with this. It will help you get through the worst of this. You should get used to this smell; we're probably going to smell it a few times if we pass through places like this. Believe me, there are far worse smells out there in the world," he stated as he handed over the merciful relief for Keel's sensitive sense of smell.
Without hesitation, she immediately took the rag and began to wrap it around her head. Immediately, she felt relief; she could no longer smell the rotting decay but only the sweet scent of lavender filling her nostrils. She was never one for flowers, even while living in her village where many of the girls wore flowery things in their hair and clothes, and even made crowns. If anything, she would prefer the scent of mud and freshly caught fish, and only recently had the smell of gunpowder been added to her list of preferred scents. "Thanks, never thought a scaly like you would have something this girlish," she said almost mockingly, and from the small outline underneath the white cloth, she was even smiling.
"Oh, you think it's girlish of me to have a scented rag to help mask the smells of things? I don't think it's really girlish, but rather practical, even though that rag you got was a gift for giving someone a nice good time between the sheets," Jake suddenly said while smirking at the young tomboy's confused expression, before their eyes immediately alighted on the previous owner of the rag.
She could hear laughter coming from the snake, and even Arthur had joined in. Keel warred within herself on whether or not to rip the rag off and throw it right at the snake for giving her a rag that once belonged to a whore or another woman. But instead of ripping it off, she simply muttered curses at the snake that only she could hear.
The small levity that had reigned over the group at their youngest expense quickly died as both mounts stopped before a horrible sight. On the path before them were long-haired women in flowing white dresses, strung up and tied onto wooden crosses on both sides of the path. By the looks of it, there were hundreds of them, stretching a great distance. Seeing how very little choice they had, they started riding past the decaying corpses of these women. Some of them had flies buzzing over their lifeless heads, while others had rats crawling on them, going in and out of small openings that they had created while feeding on the corpses. The further they went through this path of dead women, the newer and fresher the corpses became, the more pungent the smell of death upon them. If they thought the experience of seeing the rows of dead women crucified was horrifying, the next sight was even more dreadful: massive trees with nails hammered into the trunks, probably large oaks, but what made the site horrifying was the ghostly image of what looked like outstretched ropes made of flesh.
"I knew the people in The Old Capitol area, just by the history alone, were considered cruel bastards when they hated demi-humans, but I never thought they would go to this extent in their form of cruelty and execution," Jake commented, looking over a few more trees with nails jammed into them, as if the majority of the trees in the area were used for the same purpose of execution.
Arthur knew he would regret asking, but his curiosity was eating at him about what type of execution was being done here in the past, or this repeated past. "What and how?" he asked, continuing to move forward and glancing at the ghostly bits of flesh that would appear and disappear.
"Disembowelment, or the Red Ribbon tree execution, is where they cut open a small section of the victim's abdomen and place a hook-like nail just on the small piece that can be pulled out before being hammered into the tree. They then force the victim to run around a tree until they can't move anymore. They either die from infection or wildlife will finish them off, that's if the lord, lady, king, or queen doesn't do a good job at keeping the predators and pests down so the victims could die a much slower death, lasting from a few days to an entire month if they are unlucky," Jake explained grimly. If he had to be executed by any means, he would prefer the headsman's axe or hanging by a rope, rather than the horrific forms of execution he could see. He could now understand why this forest was named 'The Executioner's Forest.'
The death-like macabre that surrounded all three of them quickly died down as they traveled further, only to be replaced with other disgusting horrors. Ears were hammered onto trees or tied under strings hung off branches, not just ears, but also eyes and glass bottles and jars. If one looked upon them with absolute scrutiny, they could say that the eyes were moving, following their movements as they passed.
Off the path, there was a small bit of light through the various trees, along with voices being spoken and the smell of burning wood beginning to fill the air. It was a reprieve compared to the smells that those without scented rags over their noses had to endure.
"We should ignore it and keep moving," both Jake and Arthur said simultaneously, while Keel couldn't help but feel curious, if not drawn to the subtle sounds that were starting to whisper into her ear. The sounds almost sounded musical, and the smell of burning wood was piercing the cloth she was using to cover her nose, the smell of smoked meat beginning to fill her nostrils, creating a hunger she didn't think she could feel, her gut starting to ache.
"Come here, child, we have your favorites here."
"Yes, yes, come to us. We know you hunger and you grow tired of the stench out there."
"You shouldn't be rude and ignore us. We don't ask much, we just want to have your company."
The whispering words and the dog-like ears on Keel were becoming clearer and more mesmerizing the more she listened. Staring at the glowing light in the forest, she felt her legs beginning to twitch with nervous energy, a thrilling excitement urging her to follow the voices.
It was only then that Arthur noticed Keel's glazed-over eyes, almost matching the color of the distant light hidden behind a few trees. Before he could ask if Keel was alright or try to shake her out of whatever stupor she had found herself in, the kid leaped off the saddle and started running towards the light. "Damn it, where the hell are you going?" he yelled, riding after her.
Jake quickly followed, reaching out for the tomboy, just as Arthur was about to do the same. However, a large tree materialized in front of them, causing them to stop and Keel to disappear from their sights, though the glow of the light in the forest did not fade.
"Where did they go, and how did this tree just appear?" Arthur said in agitation, worried for the kid who had run off as if possessed.
Jake moved forward, drawing his enchanted blood knife and stabbing at the tree, only for it to fade into nothing. "Someone's playing with our minds, and whoever gained control of our little runt for a purpose, I can only guess it to be far more unpleasant than most would do when trying to gain control of a child, especially in this dark place that not even the moon can illuminate most of," he stated, sheathing his knife.
Hearing Jake's words, Arthur couldn't help but doubt everything around him, unsure if it was real or an illusion. Just another strange occurrence to add to the list of oddities he had encountered on his journeys. "Well, we better figure out how to see through these tricks while we're getting back our pup. I ain't leaving this place until I get Keelback, one way or another, and possibly have their ass tanned for the inconvenience," Arthur gruffly stated, cracking the reins to force Nyx forward.
The celestial mare felt unease continuing forward on this path that her rider was taking her; it almost felt like she was entering an equivalent black hole devoid of anything other than death and decay. 'We're entering something far darker. I do not believe I'll be able to continue to move forward much longer. The darkness of this place is draining, and I do not know why.' Nyx telepathically spoke to Arthur, conveying her uncomfortable unease with the situation.
Unlike the star-studded Celestial Mare, the more shadowy Mare was relishing the sensation of dark decay and death all around; it was feeding into her own dark essence, making her more powerful, causing her crimson eyes to glow even brighter and her black mane to start to flow like smoke.
Arthur could sympathize with Nyx; seeing the strung-up women and the ghostly intestines wrapped around a tree was more than enough to make him feel like running for the hills, yet his stubbornness and his iron will kept him moving forward. Raising his hand, he began stroking behind Nyx's neck and lightly patting her on the side of her neck. "It's all right, girl, we're all going to get through this together," he said confidently as he gave her a few more pets while continuing forward.
A lot like Arthur and his note, Jake didn't feel comfortable, and he has been through many places that would make most folks uncomfortable, but this place was something else. After flicking his tongue out and tasting the air, he could taste the scent of hundreds, if not thousands, of young children, making it hard to track down the Tomboy. What made matters worse was that the trees were starting to look the same. While others were becoming even stranger, staring at the bark of one of the trees, he could see what looked like a face and what looked like some form of agony in the way the face was contorted. Continuing forward alongside Arthur and Jake and looking past some trees, he saw something he thought he would never see again.
"Nice to see us, Jake the Snake," spoken by a bloody badger beastman wearing tattered clothes with his throat slit and one of his eyes gouged out.
Right next to the badger was a young demihuman rabbit woman holding onto her severed head on her lap as she sat on a tree stump. "I think he had forgotten about us; it's been such a long time since he left us behind," said the severed rabbit woman's head, despite it no longer being on her shoulders and just sitting on her lap. As she had spoken, blood had dribbled out of her mouth.
"The bastard wasn't there when the hunters came looking for him, and we didn't tell them where he was. They tortured me, cutting bits from me before slitting my throat, but before they did that, they made me watch as they defiled her." The beastmen badger pointed his claw towards the headless demihuman rabbit.
Black tears rolled down the rabbit woman's eyes. "I scream for you. I called out for you to help me as they soiled my body, slowly taking turns for hours, and you weren't there." She said mournfully, as black tears still oozed from her eyes like blood.
"It wasn't my fault; I told you not to run with me; I told you to go back," Jake had murmured himself; these were two of the most important people in his life before he became the cutthroat black Iron Death-Reaping Adventure he had become.
Both of them pulled out a black knife and said, "We had gone to the blacksmith; all three of us had specially forged these to signify our kinship for one another, even though we could not get them enchanted. But it still signifies we are bloodborne siblings bound together forever." The two apparitions of Jake's former party members, whom he would have considered the closest thing he had to family, spoke as one.
He gritted his teeth, reached into his bag, and pulled out a light stone and immediately threw it at the ghostly apparitions. As soon as it struck them, a large, luminous glow consumed this dark vision of his friends whom he had buried long ago, and in their place was nothing but mangled trees.
Arthur had watched the display and heard Jake muttering something, but not enough to tell what was said. "What was that all about?" He had a question, yet the look on Jake's face was telling enough that what he was asking was quite a sensitive topic.
"Nothing that concerns you; it is a personal matter, and let me go ahead and reiterate something that is most important: do not believe what you see around here; it's all illusions. Every last thing, we keep moving forward and try to find that little brat and tan that pups hide for dragging our asses through this accursed forest." Jake warned a little more gruffly, despite the small hint of pain that could be heard in his voice, that his rattler was starting to shake more violently in the same way one would expect that the demihuman rattlesnake would immediately lunge and bite the one that was causing him discomfort.
Before Arthur could even press further on what exactly was going on a small flicker of light to his side opposite from Jake caught his attention and he saw something truly horrifying yet heart-wrenching.
It was a Duchess camp with all those who had died and had left the Gang and grizzly depictions. Dutch's body was all twisted and mangled and broken, yet the black and silvered well-dressed man still acted like it was any other day whenever he had returned from doing whatever was necessary to bring the money in just to make sure the camp was well stocked and fed. As for the rest, he could see a few members having a rope hanging around their necks with a twisted expression on their faces, the same type of expression one would give while being hanged incorrectly that didn't lead to a quick snap but a slow agonizing strangulation. John and Jack both were the worst of the lot, where the father was littered with bullet holes and the fully grown adult Jack was a boy that he would immediately recognize no matter how old he was, especially given the fact he was standing right next to his father, making it even easier to identify the boy he saw as a child. Now a man had bits of his body shredded and what looked like an army uniform, from one missing leg to an arm and skin as yellow as sunflowers. "In God's name, what is all this?" His words came out of a shutter at the horrible scene he was seeing of the friends and family of the gang that he runs with reduced to this horrible Macabre display. If you thought that was the only horrible thing he would see this day, he could only wish if that was the only extent of the horse that this forest was bringing out within him to see.
Moving his eyes away and hopefully seeing something else, he saw a bloody woman standing right next to a young boy no older than Jack when he still lived within Dutch's gang. "Eliza?!" he whispered, his eyes widening as the vision of her became even more clear, and the boy standing next to her with her hand on the boy's back was his son Isaac.
"Arthur, why were you gone so long?" Eliza's ghostly, cold voice had cut into is very narrow as his mind was flooded with the memories of returning back to that tavern to visit the woman that he had considered staying with and ending his lawless career to raise his son and marry the woman that had birthed his firstborn child. only to find the tavern had been burned to the ground the woman that had his heart hanging on a tree and his son that he had found the body of just on the road a great distance away from the tavern face down with his body covered with a few bullet holes none of them were lethal meaning whoever had done it took a sick amount of pleasure in hurting his son. You didn't know if the memory of seeing their bodies would be the worst thing that had happened that day or the fact that he had run off looking for whoever had done it and killed any bandit or outlaw in the area with brutal efficiency. Even after he had run out of ammunition, he used whatever he had. He even split a man's head open with just a rock and savored the sensation of blood splashing on his face and breathing the stink of the man's body after splitting his head open. It was at that moment that he lived for Nothing But Blind, raging vengeance and killing everything in his path, only for Dutch to discover him barely alive. He spent almost 6 months sickly at death's door before finally recovering and giving the woman he loved and his son a proper burial.
"I'm sorry, Eliza. I should have been there the whole time. I should have been with you when you had Isaac. You could have made me into a proper man," he murmured. Tears began to run down the corner of his eyes, seeing his love and child floated closer, her ghostly white hands reaching out to touch his face, only for a luminous stone passed through where she was, causing her form to vanish into a twisted bush covered in purplish thorns. The outlaw quickly whipped his head towards the rattlesnake, about to say something before his Serpentine companion beat him to his.
"Whatever resides in this forest, they're casting illusions to mess with our minds to get entangled by the poisonous brambles and other nasty things littered throughout this accursed forest, or we keep wandering through their illusions until we expire; unfortunately for them, I've picked up a trail of smoke." Jake flicked out his tongue, tasting the air, and caught the smallest scent of smoke. Using that small trail that he could sense with his tongue, he directed his shadow mount in the direction where the smoke was coming from.
Arthur had briefly looked at the thorny bush for a moment, remembering the illusion, before heading out after Jake.
The true writers continued on the path until finally their mounds couldn't continue forward anymore, with the black tar of mud sticking to their hooves and causing them to sink into the surrounding bog.
Nyx tried using her brief teleporting ability to try to get out of the bog and found it to be impossible. All of her abilities and relations to the ethereal plane were severed in this place. The only other thing that she could do was move herself in between the dimensional spaces. The only thing is that she couldn't take her Rider into the dimensional space. ' I can go no farther; you'll have to confront whatever force is keeping me from using my abilities.' she informed Arthur, throwing her telepathy.
He nodded his head and padded his ethereal mount on the side of her neck. "It appears that we're close enough to where we need to be." Arthur had dismounted from his mayor, and as soon as his boots sank into the mud, his horse disappeared in a shower of golden star-like sparks. Jake did much of the same, only his mount vanished in a smoky, shadowy form that dissipated in the air.
The two had looked around and noticed how the scenery had changed from the Macabre looking for us into something that was straight out of a fable that warned children to never venture into the forest with stick effigies tied on to low hanging branches. As the two walked and saw more of the various objects hanging off trees, they soon found ears tied on to string next to the effigies, and if one of them focused on one of the trees, they could honestly say that one of the knots had blinked.
If the sites were disturbing enough around them with the absence of all other sounds, except the sinking sound of their boots coming out and sinking into the mud, the surrounding silence soon ended as the crackling sound of fire could be heard along with the glow of said fire, illuminated the darkened path that they were taking along with the sounds of cackling of a lone woman.
"This one here will make a fine feast for me," a feminine, echoey voice spoke through the trees and a small breeze carried the sinister voice.
Hearing the voice made Arthur's skin crawl as if insects were crawling on his skin. If it wasn't for the fact that he already had his hand on his revolver with the hammer pulled, he would have already done just that. Jake was also of a similar mind as he already had his crossbow pistol at the ready, and his fancy enchanted dagger already drawn, waiting to drink the blood of its wielder to activate its enchantment.
Past some bushes, there was an old crone taller than an average man with a large pointed chin, a single wart, and a hook-like nose wearing a mixture of tattered rags and forest moss. She carried on her back a large basket with a few bones jutting out of the small opening, and on top of her head was a crown of antlers sitting on her bald head. She was mixing something in a large cauldron that was sitting on a small fire, heating the glowing fluid within the cauldron. She briefly stopped for a moment and turned her head towards the direction of the two interlopers. She had yet to cast any spells to prevent them from disturbing the preparation for her meal. "Come out, gentlemen, it is rude to skulk about within a woman's domain," she said silkily while putting her razor-sharp teeth on display that looked black and silver.
Feeling only small bits of fear, Jake was the first to step out of the bushes with his weapon trained on this forest witch. "To call you a woman is to be an insult to all women on this world. You're a crone, a woodswitch, a cursed fiend," he had called her out for what she truly was and managed to keep himself from shaking in her presence.
Arthur was next to step out of the bushes with his gun unholstered, yet he still held his gun at the side of his hip, his reflexes just at the ready point to fire at this old crone. "Where is the child?" he was the first to ask for their missing party member as his eyes looked around and then towards the cauldron with the glowing fluids. If Keel was in there, he would make sure that this elderly woman, who was doing a good impression of a wicked witch that he had heard of when he was growing up, would receive the proper retribution befitting such a creature.
Both insults and questions were amusing to the old crone as she let out a cackling laugh before snapping her fingers. Out of the shadows stood Keel. The child's eyes were devoid of any semblance of life or intelligence, all glassy and dark. If they weren't still breathing, one would assume they were dead. "This one here is young, innocent, still pure, untainted. They will make a mouthful more than just of their flesh, but of their spirit and power," the witch said in that silky voice of hers as she brought a withered, wrinkled, clawed hand to gently caress Keel's cheek.
Jake had stopped Arthur from simply charging forward by extending an arm that held his crossbow pistol. "Yet, what you have is not the thing you would want to eat, or, for that matter, something that you really desire, lest you put more powerful enchantments so we will never find this place, even with my glow stones to fight through many of your illusions," the snake both stated and commented, watching as the witch's attention that was trained on the bewitched Keel turned to him, and that unsettling grin that she had with the razor-sharp teeth became even wider, and, dare he say, he saw a bit of black ooze beginning to drip from the corners of her lips.
"Aren't you a clever one," she simply said with another cackle before stepping away from the child, then stepping a few paces forward towards the uninvited guests, stopping just within 10 paces from the two. "Indeed, there is something I want, and if you manage to successfully retrieve it for me, not only will I return your companion unharmed and unmarked, I will guide you out of my home and into the city proper, for that is truly your destination which would have led you if I had not interfered," she said, revealing her true intentions, what she truly wanted from this small group of individuals that had entered her forest so willingly. Though she did hate the fact that she would have to give up such a delicious little girl that would give her that sense of youth that she had long lost centuries ago, and the power the girl had yet to tap into would renew her old magics. Plus, it had been such a long time since she had tasted the soft, succulent flesh of demi-humans or, for that matter, humans in general; both were equally as delicious.
Jake had turned towards Arthur as the two began speaking in low tones. The outlaw didn't like this at all and voiced his own opinion that just simply shooting away at the witch and grabbing Keel and making a break through the forest, and hopefully getting out of it, only for a more experienced Jake to shoot down that idea, explaining that a witch-like this creature most likely had enchantments set up ever since she probably first came across this place centuries ago, making it virtually impossible to escape if she did not allow it. After a few moments of continuing arguing, the two finally settled on accepting whatever was needed just to simply get out of this place, even if it was to make a deal with the devil.
"My partner has convinced me that we should fulfill your wants. Just tell us what you need so we can be off from this accursed Forest," Arthur tried to sound polite, but it came out rough and disrespectful, and he couldn't help but feel the slight twitching sensation of his trigger finger starting to itch.
She had closed her eyes and raised her chin up before turning around and heading straight for her cauldron. She dipped her clawed hand into the glowing fluids before pulling out a small, slimy glob of whatever she was cooking in the cauldron. With a handful of slimy fluids starting to drip from her hand, she quickly began absorbing the fluids into her hand, making it glow. Then, with a claw finger, she drew a circle in the air that began to show an image of a tower. "Long ago, a sorceress came across a star falling from the sky. She explored the magical properties of the star and found how it could heal and rejuvenate just with the presence of its magic. Fearing that this magic would be taken, the sorceress took it into her body, giving her golden hair similar in color and shine to the star she had claimed for herself. Yet, she still feared it being taken from her and locked herself away in a tower, allowing her musical song to bring suitors from far and wide to come forth and bring offerings to earn her favor. However, she would not give them her favor. Instead, she took from them both the gifts they gave and their lives. After a millennia of this, the men stopped coming, and the magic that was to sustain her could not prevent death from hunger and thirst, no matter what enchanted words she spoke or songs she sang. She expired, leaving behind the magics that for so long were now right for the taking. Alas, the magical barrier she wove around her tower prevents creatures such as I from entering. If you bring this to me, I will honor our agreement and not only allow you and your company to leave my forest, but also give you some advice on your path ahead beyond my forest. If you don't succeed, then you will join the others who have failed in this task." As she finished speaking, the illusion ended after she made sure to show every detail of the surrounding tower area, which sat on a large barren hill of dead grass and human remains.
Hearing what the witch wanted, Arthur couldn't help but draw parallels from a story he had read about Rapunzel. He remembered how the story went that a girl with enchanted hair would grow ridiculously long, and she would throw it out the window for her suitors to come forth and climb up it to save her. It usually had a happy ending, but there were other volumes of books with similar tales that didn't have a happy ending.
"Well, this task has become even more complicated. First, we're trying to avoid a band of goblins, then we end up taking on the task of cutting through the most accursed settlement in the old capital area, and now we're making a deal with a powerful ancient witch. The Adventurers Guild will definitely not believe this type of crap," Jake thought out loud as he took several steps forward towards the witch. His crossbow pistol was properly holstered, and his enchanted knife was still out, now in his left hand, instead of his right. "I accept your deal, and let us seal it in blood." The rattlesnake adventurer brought his black enchanted blade towards the palm of his right hand and made a small cut, just enough to draw blood.
The witch nodded her head. "You have dealt with my kind before, and you are wise to have it sealed by blood to keep us both honest," she replied. She then took a claw finger and ran it across her own right hand, letting the black ooze from the wound drip down as she brought her hand towards the snake's.
The two locked hands, and for a brief moment, an old, ancient magic began circling the two before manifesting in a golden chain, wrapping around each other's forearms tightly, then vanishing as both the snake and the witch let go of each other's palms. They looked at their hands and watched as the wounds covered in each other's blood began to rapidly heal, leaving behind a curse seal that represented the deal.
"Signed and sealed in blood," the witch commented as she reached into the basket she was carrying on her back. She grabbed hold of a jar filled with glowing yellow lights, held it out, and offered it to the adventurer and outlaw. "These are the small sparks of essence of the star that I managed to capture when it first fell in my youth. It will take you where you need to go, do not lose it." She explained the purpose of the jar and waited for one of them to take it.
Stepping up, Arthur took the jar roughly and shook it a little, watching as the glowing, firefly-like balls of light began swarming around before being drawn in a single direction within the jar, similar to a compass pointing towards the north. "I will be back, Keel," he spoke to the bewitched Keel. Then he took his first steps towards where the magical jar filled with stardust was pointing him, with Jake following behind.
~Scene break~
Myne couldn't help but cringe at the sound of groaning coming from Motoyasu this morning. last night they had celebrated saving the Village from their recent famine and subtly adding to the spear hero's coffers. "Sir Motoyasu, you must strengthen your resolve to fight through the small affliction of this hangover just until we get to the next town so you can drink a purging potion to clear your head. We count on you to be our arm on these unforgiving roads filled with bandits and marauders that would harm helpless us," she said in a meek tone of voice, putting up pouty lips. Her followers did much of the same as they surrounded the ailing spear hero.
Their close proximity of the girls and Myne's encouraging words renewed Motoyasu's resolve to overcome the hangover, despite him only drinking one cup of ale at the celebration from last night. "Thank you, ladies. Your words are all the medicine I need to carry myself through the day," he said, placing both hands on his hips as he popped out his chest and flashed his white teeth, striking a heroic pose that caused a few of them to giggle at his antics. Myne joined in the giggles, even though all of them were faking.
The party of five continued down the road. The party was originally bigger, but many of its members were kindly asked to leave when they were not on board with certain objectives and plans that were established between the church and the crown. Others were eliminated because one of the girls was trying to turn the spear against their betters, with the spear none the wiser of the private happenings within the party itself.
Despite faking that he was over his painful hangover, Motoyasu couldn't help but feel on top of the world. He had pretty girls and was living a life that he never imagined he would be living. He just wondered when he would find his little angel, a beautiful little blonde girl to add to his collection. Though he did miss the other girls that were originally in the party, if they needed to go back to their families, he wouldn't begrudge them. They could always come back at any time, and it was part of the NPC dialogue that some party members would leave and come back stronger or bring back powerful items for certain quests. While he was thinking and remembering his game and making plans on whom he wanted to add to his party in the next town, they came across a group of three of mixed match individuals that caught his notice and broke his focus on his fantasies. These three individuals did not look friendly; out of instinct, he grabbed hold of his spear but didn't draw it yet.
The one of the individuals were a tall, burly figure wearing leather armor with a wolf head and a large sword on his back, the other figure wearing thick black cloth covered in feathers with a bird beak mask over their face, and a man covered in bandages from head to toe, wearing simple brown robes over the bandages on his torso. They were walking in the opposite direction of where the spear party was heading, and none of them paid any mind to the group before them as they had already decided to pass this group and continue on their way. But before they could do that, a redhead marched forward and halted their progress.
"How dare you stand before the path of the spear party! Step aside and bow before Sir Motoyasu," she proudly announced to the three individuals, whose only reaction was to look at each other as they silently conversed about the information given to them about the party standing before them.
The largest of the group stepped forward, crossing his arms as he looked down at the redhead, his ruby red eyes shining through the wolf head eye socket. "The sooner I step off the side of the road and bow my head, the sooner I would eat Swamp dragon's shit," he stated gruffly, causing the redhead to splutter at the bold response.
Myne was about to make a threatening retort to the burly warrior, but a hand from Motoyasu stopped her from responding. "No need to waste your breath. This person obviously doesn't know how to speak to a lady. I will teach them the error of their ways," he said to her as he drew his spear and pointed it at the imposing figure.
The princess simply allowed the spear hero to perform his chivalrous act, signaling the shadows following them to be in a prime position to take care of the roadblock. "We will root for you, as is proper for the spear party," she spoke encouragingly into his ear as she and her followers stepped aside to avoid the confrontation.
The Raven outfit-wearing huntress walked closer to her burly companion, "Beat the crap out of him, but don't kill him. He still has a purpose to fulfill, unless you want to deal with the deep-fried chicken queen," she said to the lone swordsman of their group.
He only let out a grunt underneath the wolf head he wore as he unlatched the leather strap holding the sheath of his sword, then took on a fighting stance without unsheathing his blade, while his two companions stepped off to the side at a fair distance to not be in the way of the mock duel.
Noticing that his opponent wasn't unsheathing his blade caused Motoyasu some confusion, but he also found it quite funny. "What's the matter? Afraid to get that blade of yours dirty? Trust me, the only one who's going to have a dirty weapon is me," the spear wielder said confidently as he took on a fighting stance.
"My friend asked me not to kill you. If I had unsheathed my blade, I would bisect you with a single blow. At least this way, you'll last a little longer," he explained his reasoning for not drawing his weapon fully. He didn't speak out of confidence or arrogance of his skills, just a simple, Cold Fact.
The cold response made Motoyasu's hair stand on end, and he felt as if he was confronting a beast. Suddenly, he looked at the ladies with their hands clasped together as if in prayer to him. Just the sight alone helped him gather his courage and resolve to defeat this rude barbarian. "When I'm done, you'll be apologizing to the ladies and bow," he said confidently before letting out a war cry and charging forward to skewer his large opponent.
Seeing the charge, the wolf-helm swordsman quickly stepped aside, allowing the spear hero to skewer the air. In response to the following attacks, the swordsman simply dodged or took a step back. He was curious about the type of skills the spear hero had besides blindly stabbing and slashing with his spear.
The spear hero didn't quite understand why he was missing, why he wasn't hitting the wolf-head-wearing swordsman. The only thing he was hitting was air, and if he could see, there would be no doubt he would be able to see a smirk on his opponent's face. For some reason, he had brief images of the past from his world, people laughing at him, smirking at him, making fun of his dyed blonde hair or his otaku lifestyle. Gritting his teeth, he immediately pointed his spear and channeled the energies within him. "Meteor Strike!" he yelled out while pointing his spear at his opponent. A beach ball-sized flaming rock appeared before his spear and was sent off towards the swordsman.
Upon seeing the large flaming rock, instead of dodging or using his sheathed blade to deflect it, the swordsman freed his left hand, made a fist, cocked his arm, and waited for the last possible moment. 'Martial Arts Skill Overcharge Blow!' As soon as he mentally activated that skill, his left fist began to glow, right before he thrust his fist into the large rock, causing it to explode into dust with only bits and fragments falling off his undamaged fist. "Talk about weak. Your predecessor could deliver a stronger meteor strike, and he made me sore for weeks. Perhaps you truly are the runt of the litter of spear heroes," the swordsman sarcastically stated as he dusted off his hand before strengthening his grip on his sword.
"Impossible! That's the strongest move for my current level. I'm not supposed to find someone above my level at this part of the game," Motoyasu yelled as he tried to think of parts of the game that would have a wandering swordsman this strong before he had the chance of fighting the first wave boss for his adventure or any important NPCs that were strong. He wasn't able to contemplate for too long as the swordsman wasn't interested in waiting any longer for the pathetic attacks being delivered by the spear wielder.
Moving at the speed of sound, the swordsman simply took one step forward and swung his sheathed sword into the midsection of the spear hero, sending him flying into a nearby tree off the side of the road. A loud thunk could be heard as the spear hero was knocked out cold by that single blow, which wasn't even enhanced by any skills or magic. "Again, pathetic. I have fought three of your predecessors, and you are by far the weakest of the three I have faced," the swordsman commented. Whether or not the spear welder could actually hear his words didn't matter to the swordsman as he simply reattached his weapon to his back.
"You dare! You will pay for this, you scum!" Myne yelled out as she cast her most powerful Fireball at the swordsman. She watched with sick fascination as the unexpected attack connected, engulfing him in a red-hot fiery blaze that she had created. Her triumph was short-lived as the swordsman simply waved his right hand, dissipating the flames as if it was nothing. The only thing still on fire was his wolf head that he was wearing, only to watch him remove it and reveal what was hidden underneath.
Motoyasu forced himself back to consciousness as he opened his eyes and saw that the swordsman no longer had the wolf head on his head. That's when he realized he wasn't facing a normal human. "What the hell! Your race is not supposed to be in this game?!" he cried out, realizing the type of enemy he was facing.
The swordsman simply glared down at the sputtering spear wielder with his ruby red eyes. His pointed ears twitched as his sharp eyes looked towards the forest and immediately caught sight of the hidden shadows that were prepared to attack.
"You shouldn't hide your dark skin and short silver hair, my friend. You tend to scare a lot more of the riffraff with your appearance That we'll have to deal with. Plus, these folks never see a dark elf too often, especially one who hails from the Demon Mountains," the huntress said teasingly underneath her bird-like mask as she took a few steps closer and playfully bumped his strong arm.
Again, the dark elf swordsman grunted as his only reply as he crossed his arms and stared at the shadows that were just waiting for the signal to come out. "If I did reveal myself to everyone, then I would receive non-stop requests to be contracted to their service. Dark elf swordsmen are hard to come by, especially in these human-infested lands."
"I can't blame you for that, my friend. Humans tend to be greedy, selfish, and ignorant creatures, though they make good fodder. Speaking of, what shall we do with the ones hiding in the shadows? Shall I simply ignite them?" spoken by the monk, who raised his right hand as a ringlet of flames appeared above it. The cursed flames lashed out with anticipation and hunger to feed on the living.
The huntress looked towards the forest. She could smell their blood and sense their uncertainty. She was half-tempted to simply fight them, have her fill, and be on her way. But they were on a deadline. They needed to find their sword wielder. "No, we'll leave these few little chicks alone. But if they pursue, you may kill them," she nonchalantly stated as she began to make her way forward on the road, with her two companions falling behind.
The swordsman let out another grunt, accepting his companions' decision not to kill the little ones hiding in the trees and bushes. His ruby gaze had fallen onto the shocked spear wielder, and he couldn't help but make a disgusted sneer at the latest addition and disgrace to the spear wielder lineage. He then followed behind his huntress companion.
The monk, covered in bandages, looked over at the stunned members of the spear party. He briefly grabbed hold of the bandages covering his head and revealed multiple eyes hidden underneath. He let out a chuckle as soon as he covered them again, adding to their freak out due to the inhuman number of eyes. He then followed behind his companions.
BTC