Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 4: Quality Time

Chapter 8

And now part 4 wraps up with some action! A prelude for the adventure to come, perhaps~? And yeah, another long one.

I almost decided to expand this chapter into its own little 2 or 3 chapter episode, but decided against it. Fun fact, the concept behind this particular chapter has been sitting, fleshed out to a certain degree, in my notes for aaaages now. I just wasn’t sure exactly where to put it in the actual story. On another note, I almost ended up having Kuna get a lot more violent at the end, but decided it was a bit much, so I rewrote it a little. Well, now it’s done and I can put that section of my notes to rest! Anyway, enjoy!

...and don’t forget to comment if you read this! PLEASE! I need feedback to grow, you know.

-Llox

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After breakfast, the boys packed up and set out for the next arch. The sereva opted to leave their temporary shelter in tact in order to conserve energy, since he knew he’d already be operating on less than an ideal amount of sleep as it was. They considered manually tearing down the parts not made up of stone, but they ultimately decided there wasn’t much point- it seemed unlikely that something hostile would be tracking them. And even if there was, it likely wouldn’t be able to do so through the gateway, especially once it closed behind them.

It was a little before noon when they finally encountered the next arch. After taking a moment to prepare themselves in case of trouble on the other side, Kuna activated the portal. Lykou led the way through, with his latest crude spear at the ready, just in case. When they stumbled out on the other side, a quick look around revealed no impending danger, so they both relaxed a bit. Ever since ending up in the bee nest, they were always on edge when coming through the portal.

“Well… another forest, it looks like. How exciting,” Kuna deadpanned.

“Yeah… definitely nothing like back home, though,” Lykou pointed out, eyeing the bright, colorful flowers and foliage that decorated the thick vines hanging from the limbs of the tall trees. Despite the bright midday sun beating down from above, the incredibly dense canopy made the underbrush as dim as if it were twilight. That didn’t stop all manner of thick foliage from making travel a pain. Lykou took out his waterskin and took a large sip while waiting for the sereva to check the direction to the next arch. “This is the warmest place we’ve been yet, damn.”

“And muggy, too,” Kuna agreed, then sighed as he gestured off in the direction his magic was telling him. “Let’s get moving before we start melting.” They both began walking as he eyed a particularly large beetle on a nearby tree trunk warily. Luckily, most of the other insects seemed more or less their normal size- perhaps a bit larger than he was used to, but nothing like the giants back in the forest where they’d met Zig. “Ugh. I feel like I almost have to drink the air here as much as breath it.”

“Tell me about it. Hope we either find the next arch soon or at least a breezier place to camp.”

After another hour or so, the thick foliage began to thin a little, as the ground became a bit rockier and more uneven. Soon they found themselves climbing a small ridge. When they reached a relatively flat section with a small waterfall adjacent to it, they decided to make camp, even though sunset was still several hours away, both because of Kuna’s fatigue, and the fact that the warm, humid environment, paired with the difficult terrain, was taking a lot out of them. Fortunately, being on a modest elevation next to the waterfall helped take the edge off the hot, humid atmosphere somewhat.

“You know, I hate to say it, especially after you so nicely did this braid,” Lykou said, setting his things down near the cliffside. “But I think I really need to get a trim if we’re going to be trekking through places this warm.”

“Yeah, same, though I imagine it’s worse for you,” Kuna replied as he set his own things down, then reluctantly removed his robe while the canid began setting up a fire pit. “And I’ll have to switch back to my old outfit for now, too.”

“Heh, yeah, so much for needing the extra warmth.”

Kuna set up a shelter for them as usual while Lykou borrowed the hatchet and gathered firewood for the night. It was so warm that neither particularly wanted to sit around a fire for once, but they figured it’d still help ward off unwanted guests. Still, they only made a small one and sat back from it a bit while they ate their dinner. Afterwards, they decided to each take turns crudely trimming the other’s hair- and thicker patches of fur, in Lykou’s case- with the sunstone knife. It was far from ideal, but at least they’d be a little less miserable in the warm, muggy environment. Lykou even stripped out of his clothes to make sure to do a thorough job, though he made sure to carefully do the lower bits himself before letting Kuna take over for his head and upper torso- much to the sereva’s mixed relief and secret disappointment.

Kuna smirked. “Somehow, it seems like a travesty to make you less fluffy, even if only a bit.”

“What, think I won’t be able to give good cuddles anymore?”

“Hey, I said no such thing! You’re an expert at that no matter what,” the sereva replied. And heck, your muscles will be more obvious this way too, so it balances out, he mentally added, biting his lip as he continued carefully trimming the fluff back.

Lykou grinned. “Good to know. Hey, hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to go wash up in the fall when we’re done. Want to join me?”

Kuna glanced over at the water and thought for a moment, blushing faintly. “...what, just… splash around under the falls for a few minutes? Not like there’s enough stream to sink into.”

“Yeah, won’t take long. Just enough to clean up and cool off a bit. Might help you sleep afterwards too.”

“You just want an excuse to sleep naked again, don’t you?” the sereva playfully accused.

“Hey, like you wouldn’t enjoy that,” the canid teased back. “I was going to anyway, as warm as it is.”

“Yeah, honestly, that’s a good point. I hope the next arch isn’t too far, I don’t like the idea of traveling through this kind of place very long,” Kuna replied, then handed the knife back to Lykou after trimming the last bit of excess fluff. “Well there you go. A little less fluff, but just as buff.” He blinked, then blushed and grinned sheepishly. “Er, did I just say that out l-”

“Yes, yes you did.” Lykou giggled and booped his nose. “Thanks, it’s good to know the fluff doesn’t hold all my appeal. Now c’mere and let me do you.”

Yes please, Kuna replied, but only in his mind. He then blushed a bit more and clenched his eyes shut as he tried to shut those thoughts down and let the canid start trimming his hair. “Heh, y-yeah... thanks.”

It took a lot less time for his own trim, of course- he just needed his bangs trimmed back out of the way a bit, and maybe some fluff around his neck and shoulders trimmed back a little. But otherwise, his fur didn’t tend to get very thick anyway. Once the konuul was finished, he put away the knife, then headed for the water. “Well I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to cool off.”

“R-right,” Kuna agreed. When Lykou was looking away, he quickly stripped down before hurrying over to join him. “Careful not to sli-EEP!”

Luckily, the konuul caught him as he started to stumble and slip on the slick stones around the base of the falls. He arched a brow and smirked. “Might want to take your own advice.”

For a moment, Kuna just blushed hard as he relished the way the naked canid was holding him. But before his thoughts could stray too far, he quickly snapped out of it and stood back up. “Heh, thanks,” he replied with a sheepish grin, then quickly slid under the cold water to help wash away the invasive thoughts that threatened to make the situation more awkward.

Lykou chuckled and joined him under the water, relishing the feeling of the cold falls coursing over his body. After thoroughly soaking himself, he playfully nipped at the water a few times.

Kuna stepped back and crossed his arms, eyeing him with an amused look. “Why do you always do that?”

The konuul smirked and shrugged. “I dunno, just a weird instinct I guess. What, can’t a guy have some fun?”

“Uh-huh… you preds just like biting things.”

“Want me to nibble you instead?” Lykou teased, then froze and shot the sereva an apologetic look. “Er, s-sorry, didn’t think that one thr-”

“Pffft,” Kuna snickered and gave him a look. “What, suddenly changing your mind about the whole ‘cannibalism’ thing?” he teased back. “Oh no, this whole time I thought we were friends, but you were just saving me for a snack! Woe is me!”

A dozen pervy retorts raced through Lykou’s mind, but for once, he opted to keep them there. Given their location and the setting sun, he didn’t want either of them to have to sneak off for a bit just to take care of any ‘issues’ that more teasing might bring up. Still, he was glad the sereva took the comment in the playful way it was intended. “I eat wild animals, not cute dorks,” he said as he went back to washing himself off.

“Hey! What’d you call me??”

“Adorkable.”

Kuna blew raspberries at him.

“Proving the point.”

The sereva rolled his eyes, then stepped out of the water, grinning and blushing in spite of himself. “C’mon, let’s go dry off. Don’t want to make that blanket soggy when we go to bed.”

“Fiiiine,” Lykou agreed and reluctantly stepped out of the water, but only after a couple more playful nips at the falls.

They both relaxed around the fire for the rest of the evening, grateful for the sunset bringing a cooler night breeze. Lykou opted to work on his instrument some more while Kuna experimented and practiced with his magic a little.

“So… should we stay here tomorrow so you can do some more foraging?”

“As much as I really aught to, nah. I really don’t want to spend any longer than necessary in this place. I’ll just keep an eye out for anything while we’re traveling tomorrow. Maybe we’ll get lucky and stumble across something tasty,” Kuna replied, then looked over at the materials laid out next to his friend. “Need any help with that?”

“Not at the moment, I’m still kind of trying to, er… figure things out, I guess. Thanks, though.”

“Just let me know if you change your mind.”

“Sure thing.” After a few minutes, Lykou glanced over at Kuna as he worked on carving the handle and noticed the sereva’s hands glowing with two different auras. “Both at once, hmm?”

Kuna nodded slightly, his eyes closed as he focused. “Yeah. Don’t know of anything practical I can do with it yet, but I just had a feeling maybe it’ll be important some day for some reason.” After a minute, he yawned and stretched, relinquishing the hold on the two mystical energies. He then opened his eyes and drank some water from his jug. “Well, I think I’m dry enough. I’m going to get some sleep. Wake me when you’re ready to join me so I can block off the entrance, alright?”

“Will do. Sleep well, Ku,” Lykou replied, setting his stuff down for a moment to hug the sereva. Kuna happily reciprocated, then crawled into their shelter and sprawled out on the bed mat, not even bothering with the blanket.

*****

The next morning Kuna got up much earlier after a good night’s sleep, and Lykou followed suit shortly afterward. After a quick breakfast, they set out as early as they could, hoping to find the next arch before the heat of the day really set in. A few hours into their trek, however, they spotted what looked like buildings ahead through the dense underbrush. There was no sign of activity, but still, they approached with extra caution, keeping their eyes and ears alert.

When they passed through the last bit of brush into the comparatively clear area containing the structures, they immediately tensed up. In front of them stood a set of large step-pyramid looking buildings with some smaller crumbling structures scattered around them, decorated with certain themes they were both familiar with- albeit with some style differences to the ones they’d seen before. But there was no mistaking the most prominent figures in the pictographs on the sides of the pyramids. Kuna in particular scowled and shrank back, looking around anxiously.

Lykou gripped his spear tightly for a moment. “Those look like-”

“Ursarans,” Kuna practically spat out. “Fucking great.”

“...yeah,” Lykou agreed, cautiously stepped around the corner of one of the smaller buildings, with the sereva reluctantly following along behind him. “It… looks abandoned, though. I don’t think anyone’s been here in a long while.”

“Good. Last thing we need is to run into any of those fucks. Ravager or otherwise.”

“Won’t argue there,” Lykou agreed as they carefully made their way through the ruins. “I wonder why though? These buildings took a lot of work. Not the kind of thing you just up and abandon without really good reason.”

“Hopefully they all fucking died. Horribly, even.”

The konuul winced at the venom in his friend’s tone. He wasn’t fond of the bastards either, but clearly the sereva held a special hatred for them- and it wasn’t exactly hard to imagine why. “I don’t know… no sign of fire or anything. Maybe they got attacked by another clan?”

“Sounds about right for them,” Kuna said, rolling his eyes. “Surprised they can even take time out of murdering, raping, and enslaving people long enough to design things like this.”

“I thought they gave up slavery? I know the clan near us did. Granted, it was only after our ancestors kicked the shit out of them to rescue some of our people...”

“Plenty of them still go for it, from what I’ve seen.” Kuna nodded over to some broken wooden fragments near the edge of the former village. “Looks like the remnants of a cage right there.”

“Damn…” Lykou sighed. “I’d really hoped the ones we know were on the worse end of the spectrum, rather than the… less bad?”

“Looks like they got what was coming to them, anyway,” Kuna said, suddenly stopping in his tracks and pointing to through the frame of an open doorway into a room lit up by holes in the ceiling, where the broken, weathered bones of an ursaran skeleton were scattered around.

Lykou stepped inside briefly to take a closer look and picked up one of the femurs for inspection. “...there’s some bite marks on these things. Strange ones. I know they can be a nasty bunch at times, but I’m pretty sure they’re not cannibals.”

“As far as we know. Wouldn’t put anything past them, though,” the sereva replied, crossing his arms and looking away. “We can look if they left anything useful behind if you want, but don’t even think about suggesting we camp here.”

Lykou stepped back out after tossing the bone aside. “Didn’t plan on it, it’s not even noon yet anyway. And even if these bones have been here a long time, I wouldn’t want to risk whatever attacked them still being around.”

Kuna shivered and glanced around warily as they resumed roaming the ruins. “You think that’s a strong chance? Looks like it’s been abandoned for a long time now…”

“Kind of doubt it, but stay alert anyway.”

As they passed around another one of the smaller structures, they saw the enormous, ornate entrance to one of the pyramids. The stone was embossed with intricately-carved and heavily stylized depictions of various spirits, along with ursarans in very clearly-indicated castes engaging in various activities. Though it was faded from age, most of the decorations were still painted in various bright colors.

“You know, for a bunch of violent assholes, they do have a flair for art,” Lykou pointed out, then frowned at the obvious depiction of a bunch of slaves being driven to carry a palanquin for an important-looking ursaran. “As… fucked up as some of the imagery is.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me if they forced slaves to make it. Doubt their dumb fat clawed hands are any good at it.”

Lykou sighed and approached the entrance. “Well, let’s take a quick look inside. Can you light it up with your magic? Only a couple cracks in the ceiling, pretty dim in there.”

Kuna shot him a dubious look. “Is it even worth it?”

“Hey, like you said, they might have left something useful behind.”

The sereva shrugged and conjured up the green glow. After focusing for a minute, he made it brighter by grasping the pool of essence within himself, shivering a bit in the process. “Well, let’s just make this quick, then. I don’t like being here.”

“Fair enough.”

They walked into the building and as soon as they were far enough inside, they were somewhat blown away by the decorations on the walls. The hallway was relatively short and soon opened up into an enormous chamber whose walls were polished so smooth that they could faintly see their blurry reflections on the less-decorated portions when they got closer to inspect them. Numerous pictographs lined the edge along the floor, whereas enormous murals were etched into the stone above them. The murals seemed to depict various vaguely-anthropomorphic entities, some of which had some resemblance to ursarans, but others were totally different and strange looking.

“This must be their temple,” Lykou commented, running his hand over one of the depictions. “Huh. I always wondered what one looked like inside.”

“Temple?”

“Like a shrine only… bigger, obviously,” Lykou said. “We may not know a lot about them, but they’re real serious about certain really powerful spirits that may or may not exist.” He nodded to one of the ones that somewhat resembled an ursaran, only with wildly unnatural colors in its fur. “Like that one. Not sure if it’s the same, but I know they worship one that’s supposedly taught their ancestors how to fight. The ‘first warrior’ or some nonsense.”

“...huh. Weird,” Kuna said, arching a brow as he eyed the various images. “Wait, how do you know all that? Are you telling me the Ashers and those brutes are on… speaking terms or something?”

“Ugh, no, not really,” the canid said with a frown. “We don’t fight like we used to but we pretty much avoid each other. Most of what we know about them comes from the folks our ancestors rescued from them a couple generations ago.” He looked back out into the chamber, then gestured towards the back wall, which they both began walking towards. “For a bunch of violent assholes, they’re apparently super spiritual. The whole reason they act the way they do is because they believe in something called the, er… ‘Great Ordering’ or something like that. They’re big into hierarchy, and think it’s their job to make sure its reflected in the mortal world like it supposedly is in the spirit world.”

“Mhmm. And I guess this great ‘spiritual hierarchy’ just so happens to put them at the top. How convenient,” Kuna grumbled. He raised his hand up a bit so they could get a better look at the enormous mural on the back wall. It seemed to consist of all the other spirit-figures surrounding one especially large one depicted as a vague, grey, faceless figure holding a heart in one hand and a skull in the other. “Definitely more than I ever cared to know about them.”

Lykou shrugged. “Fair enough. Doesn’t look like we’re going to find anything useful in here, though, anyway.”

Just as they turned to leave, Kuna’s eyes fell on a particularly grisly mural that made him shrink back, aghast. “Fuck!” he blurted out. The image depicted a massive chitinous creature that looked like a worm with a dozen or so jagged, spiky legs, an extra set of arms with serrated claws on its hands, three glowing yellow eyes on its massive head, a trio of extremely long whip-like antennae above them, and an enormous maw full of sharp teeth. It was in the process of consuming handful of ursaran warriors which were impaled on its legs or grasped in its claws, while dozens of others were scattered around its feet, either fleeing or attacking it with spears that bounced off its armored body.

“Woah… that one kind of stands out.”

“Ya don’t fucking say,” Kuna retorted, his eye twitching.

“Well I mean, besides not just looking different from the others, look at this,” Lykou added, pointing out a faint scratch in the stone next to the image. It was decidedly less professionally done and easy to miss, but it looked like someone had drawn a symbol resembling two v-shapes pointing towards one another. “Wonder what that’s about? Looks like it was-”

“Put there later on. And… maybe in a rush,” Kuna finished for him, his eyes widening. He turned to look back towards the exit. “...you don’t think…?”

Lykou shuddered. “Maybe that’s what got this place? Possibly. Doesn’t look like any spirit I’ve heard of though.”

“Might not be a spirit. Might just be a really nasty monster they mistook for one and worshiped until it took a nasty interest in their village.”

“Could be, but if that’s the case I suspect it’s long gone by now. Er, hopefully.”

“I sure as fuck hope so. If this image is to scale…”

“Doubt it,” Lykou assured him. “They always portray more powerful things as bigger regardless of their actual size. Just look at the guards compared to the slaves down there. And who I’m assuming is the head guard above them. I’m sure they view anything capable of taking on a few of their warriors like that as pretty damn powerful.”

Kuna glanced around at some of the other images in the chamber, then slowly nodded. “That’s… reassuring. I think. Still, let’s get out of here. This place is really giving me the creeps.”

“Yeah, doesn’t look like there’s anything worthwhile in here anyway,” Lykou agreed. They turned and hurried out of the temple, and Kuna dismissed his magic as soon as they were back in the daylight, relieved to no longer need to rely on its glow to see. The konuul looked over and spotted something in the gap between the larger structures. “Hey, what’s that?”

“Hmm?” Kuna looked up and saw a large mound of various broken wooden objects. It looked like a bunch of the various hand-made furniture, weapons, tools, and so on had been broken up and collected into a big ring in the middle of the village, with most of it having suffered heavily from the elements over the years. “What the…?”

They exchanged a look, then the konuul started approaching it. “Hey, if there’s anything left worth grabbing, it’ll probably be over there.”

The sereva sighed and reluctantly followed him, shooting nervous glances out towards the edges of the village any time they passed another building. “Alright but hurry, I want to get the fuck out of here and find the next arch.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll only take a minute,” Lykou assured him as he began carefully climbing up the edge of the pile, occasionally stopping to inspect some of its contents. He froze up when he reached the top, however, his eyes going wide as he peered over the top. The pile was in fact a large ring-like structure serving as a barrier around a shallow pit- and in the middle there was a cluster of very, very large eggs.

At that same moment, Kuna suddenly shot a startled look out at the treeline in the distance, where some of the trees began to bend and rustle. Even though he couldn’t see it yet, he could definitely sense the life energy of something enormous approaching when he focused on it.

Lykou jumped down next to him and they both spun around to warn each other at the same time. “We have t-” they both urgently started to say at the same time, only to stop when they realized the synchronicity. A brief moment of amusement passed between them before they quickly remembered what initially panicked them, then Kuna gestured to the forest and whispered harshly, “I think it’s still here.”

“Yep. This shit? It’s a nest. Eggs and all,” Lykou confirmed as they quickly started moving in the opposite direction. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. Try to stay quiet.”

Kuna nodded, then gestured off slightly to the right. “Arch is somewhere off that way. Lets hurry.”

“Right, let’s-”

Suddenly, loud clacking sounds echoed off the stone on the far side of one of the pyramids. Kuna tensed up and started to panic, but snapped out of it when Lykou quickly yanked him into a nearby smaller structure. Much to their chagrin, there were a couple more skeletons scattered around inside- one of them missing a chunk of its skull. As they peered nervously out into the village square, they heard the creature come crawling down the side of the pyramid. They both jumped slightly when its legs briefly stabbed into the ground right in front of them as the creature passed by.

The mural had, it seemed, been to scale after all. Drips of blood trailed behind the creature as it passed. When they slipped out quietly, they saw why- the creature had a pair of large dead animals of some kind gripped in its jagged claws, with a third one being mulched up into the creature’s mouth as it made its way towards its nest.

The boys continued to make their way to the edge of the village as quickly and stealthily as they could. Suddenly, the creature froze and lifted its head, making some kind of loud heavy-breathing sound, like it was sniffing the air without a nose. Its antennae twitched around as its gaze shifted around the surrounding buildings.

Kuna considered darting into another building, but Lykou urged him on. They continued fleeing in fits and bursts as the creature began to roam around, seemingly searching its claimed territory for something. They both nearly had a heart-attack when one of its legs suddenly slammed down into the dirt in front of them as they peered out from one building’s awning. Fortunately, the creature passed right over them without noticing them as it climbed across the top of the structure.

After a terrifying ten minutes or so of skulking through the village, which felt more like an eternity, they finally made it to the edge of the forest. As quickly and quietly as they could, they slipped through the brush, then gradually sped up to as close to a run as they could get away with in the dense jungle environment.

They didn’t stop until their bodies were burning from exhaustion, and even then they only reluctantly slowed down until they were damn sure the creature wasn’t following them. Only when the exertion became too much and Kuna was about to collapse from fatigue did they decide to stop and gulp down some water.

“Fu… fuck… that’s gotta… be the scariest shit… we’ve seen yet,” Lykou panted out after he finally dropped his waterskin. “I hate t… to think what would’ve… happened if… it caught us…”

“No shit,” Kuna said as he slumped back against a tree’s trunk, clutching his chest as he tried to calm his racing heart. “Be… best I could do… is maybe slow it down… with my magic… if I… had to. And probably… not much…”

“That’s assuming it doesn’t counter it. What if it is a spirit? A demon, even? Certainly scary enough,” Lykou commented after he finally caught his breath.

Kuna shook his head. “N-no, it… it was a living thing, at least. I could sense its life energy.”

“Well that’s good at least. Still hope we never see anything like it again, though.”

“Yeah… fuck, we can’t find that next arch soon enough.”

They took some time to collect themselves and have a snack before they continued onwards. As luck had it, Kuna spotted some fruit hanging from one of the nearby trees. After they’d rested a bit, Lykou helped him climb up and cut some of them down. They were oddly shaped, but once he got the skin off, he found the inside was pretty delicious- once he got the seeds out of the way. It was exactly the kind of thing he needed after that mad run. Lykou tried one and found that he enjoyed the sweetness as well. By the time they’d finished, there were only a couple left to put in Kuna’s bag alongside the remaining charnops, so they agreed to watch for any more along the way.

*****

A while later, after having recovered and continued through the jungle a bit further, Kuna tensed up and stopped. Lykou stopped next to him and quickly looked around. “What is it? You sense something?” he asked quietly, gripping his spear tightly.

Kuna nodded slightly and glanced off slightly to the left of the way they’d been walking. He hunkered down behind some bushes, with Lykou quickly joining him by his side. “Good news it’s not that monster. Nowhere near that big,” he whispered, frowning.

“What’s the bad news?”

The sereva gave him a decidedly bitter look. “Walking on two legs, but on the big side. Can’t tell more than that without seeing them, but I think we can guess, given the ruins we saw.”

“Shit,” Lykou muttered, peeking out around the bushes warily. “Guess it makes sense the survivors had to re-settle somewhere. Would have thought it’d be further away though, after already losing one village to that thing.”

“What, and show weakness? Not likely. Probably plan on retaking it eventually, knowing them.”

“Good point.” The canid peered out into the dense jungle some more, then slipped back fully behind the bushes. “I don’t see them yet. How far are they?”

“As far out as I can sense... They’re moving further away though, so if we wait a few minutes, we should be good to continue, as long as we’re careful.”

Lykou nodded. “Hope we find that arch soon. Really don’t feel like fighting one of those bastards.”

“Tell me about it. And there’s sure to be more out here.”

They waited until the presumed ursaran was outside of Kuna’s detection range, then carefully continued creeping forward, taking care to be as stealthy as they could. Before long, they stopped again as Kuna ducked behind some bushes and rubbed his temples.

“You okay?” Lykou whispered, joining him again.

“No. Besides all this focusing starting to give me a little headache, I’m starting to sense more of them up ahead. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Damn.” The konuul peered up over their cover, then quickly ducked back down. “Fuck double-damn. I think I see buildings out there. We must be getting closer to wherever their new village is. You sure the spell is pointing that way?”

Kuna nodded. “Unfortunately. We should try and skirt around the village. Hopefully its somewhere on the far side. Although-”

“Don’t say-”

“-I have a bad feeling about it,” Kuna finished anyway, then sighed. “Knowing our luck.”

Lykou rolled his eyes up and rubbed his face in exasperation. “Well… better get going then. Before one of those bastards stumble upon us sitting here.”

After taking a deep breath, the sereva nodded and got up again. They began making their way around the distant buildings peeking through the underbrush in a wide arc. But eventually, after a short while, they had to stop again. This time, Kuna began banging his head lightly against a tree until Lykou intervened and stopped him.

“Hey, what th-” he began to demand quietly.

“It’s in the damn village. I can sense the direction changing as we’re going around,” Kuna grumbled. “FUCK Inkari so much for this.”

“Aaand… what good is headbutting a tree going to do?”

“Hopefully, make me pass out and wake up back at our last campsite, realizing this is all just a miserable dream.”

“Well unfortunately, it’s real, and the tree’s going to win if you keep that up,” Lykou teased, then gently rubbed the spot Kuna head been lightly bumping against it.

Kuna smiled faintly and briefly at him, then sighed and glanced around the tree. “Guess we have to get a closer look. Oh what fucking fun.”

“Well… get ready to use your bracers if we have to, I guess.”

The sereva nodded and they began creeping closer to the village, quickly ducking into cover on a few occasions as a patrolling ursaran passed uncomfortably close by. On one occasion, they finally got a good look at one as she stalked past them. They were definitely ursarans, albeit with some differences to the ones they were used to- thicker stripes, thinner fur, and a more vibrant orange coat between the stripes. And perhaps a bit smaller overall- but still much larger than either of them.

When they finally got close enough to see into the village, they saw several of them leading a group of some other kind of people neither of them were familiar with into some cages. The captives were barely wearing anything, and their hands were bound. The cage was shut behind them, and a couple of the ursarans said something to one another, though it was too faint for them to hear, and then most of them walked off, leaving only one to guard the cage.

Lykou and Kuna scowled at the sight. “Hate to say I told you so, but those look like slaves to me.”

“...we have to help them,” Lykou announced.

Kuna blanched. “Are you crazy??”

“We can’t just leave people doomed to that kind of life! Besides, we have to get to the arch anyway, right?” the canid pointed out, then peered back to the village and pointed past the cage. Just barely visible between some buildings in the distance was what looked like a stone chair surrounded by decorative stonework and vases full of flowers. It was a throne of some kind, with a large ursaran sitting in it, apparently giving orders to a pair of subordinates. Part of the decorative stonework around the throne looked different from the rest- and very arch-shaped. “We can sneak in at night, free the prisoners, then bolt to the arch and leave.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Lykou, I’m with you in spirit, but that’s way too risky. Besides, from what I’ve seen, ursarans have a nasty habit of making escaped slaves… examples to others when they’re caught again, if you know what I mean. And I don’t know how far those people will get if we just open the cage and wish them luck.”

Lykou fidgeted and glared at the ground irritably for a minute, lost in thought. Kuna gently rested a hand on his shoulder, but before he could say anything, the konuul looked up with a certain glint in his eye. “Then we’ll just have to make sure the bastards are in no shape to go looking for them.”

“Er… what?” Kuna shrank back slightly and folded his ears down. “Lykouuu… you’re getting that look…”

The canid shot him a big grin. “Yep. C’mon, let’s get away from here. I have an idea.”

“I can hardly wait to hear it,” the sereva snarked, rolling his eyes up as they began quickly, but discretely retreating away from the village.

*****

“You’re not serious! You CANNOT be fucking serious!”

“I’m Lykou, actually.”

“And you’ve gone totally insane this time!”

“Maybe. But I’m okay with that. Means they’ll definitely never see it coming.”

“Because it’s suicidal! This is gonna get us both killed! Come on, Lykou, let’s just… go try that sneaking in at night thing!” Kuna pleaded. By that point they were well away from the active ursaran village- and halfway back to the old abandoned one. Mostly abandoned, anyway.

“Nope. Like you said, they’d probably capture and do horrible things to the escapees then. Can’t have that.”

“Lykouuuu!”

Finally, as they were coming within sight of the old village, the konuul paused and sighed, then grabbed Kuna’s shoulders gently. “Look. I know it’s scary. But we can do it, alright? We’re both fast runners. As long as you stay out of its line of sight and use your magic to slow it down, it’ll stay focused on me without catching up to me. And hey, maybe this’ll trigger my, you know… weird sorta-magic ‘thing’ again.”

Kuna whined and suddenly pulled him into his arms, shaking a bit. “That’s still an awful big risk. I know your crazy ideas have a weirdly good track record, but this is the most insane one yet, and I don’t want to lose you,” he whimpered, squeezing him tightly. “Plus, we were out of breath before we even reached the other village earlier, no way we can run that whole way, make it through the chaos, free the slaves, AND get to the gate!”

“Well… I was hesitant to bring it up, buuuut,” Lykou said, then took a deep breath and began rummaging around in his chaser bag. Suddenly he pulled out two familiar looking, edible square objects.

Kuna’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “You… still have a couple of those.”

Lykou nodded, smiling sheepishly. “Believe me, I’m no more thrilled about using them than you are, after what happened last time. But Moyra and Faergus insisted I hold onto a couple ‘just in case’ before we left for real. And this time we’ll just be running for the most part, not fighting.”

The sereva eyed the little biscuit warily, then sighed heavily. “Fine… once we’re through the gate though, assuming we’re in a safe spot to do so, we’re setting up camp again,” he said, taking one of the things and biting into it. “And the next place better damnwell be a hell of a lot nicer.”

“No argument there,” Lykou agreed, biting into the other one. “Right, so remember, once we get to the active village, we activate our bracers and I’ll make sure the guards are thoroughly occupied. You focus on freeing the prisoners- they probably won’t need too much encouragement to run like hell, given the circumstances- and we’ll meet by the arch.”

Kuna nodded, then eyed the buildings in the distance. He could just see one of the creature’s huge antennae idly flicking around from around the corner of one of the pyramids. “Just… be extremely careful, Lykou.”

“I will. Just be ready with your magic!”

They each took a big sip of water after finishing their respective ‘wake up biscuit’. Then, Kuna focused and manifested the green glow around his hands as Lykou slipped into the ruins. As they’d hoped, the creature was currently dozing on the ground at the edge of its nest after having finished its large meal, of which there was nothing but a few blood splatters left on the ground. With his senses at peak alert, Lykou crept as quietly as he could into the nest, never letting his eyes off the beast for more than a moment or two. Once he’d made sure he had his whole route back to the jungle’s edge planned out, he quietly set aside his spear, opting to leave it behind so it wouldn’t get in the way, then picked up one of the eggs and started slowly backing away towards the edge of the nest.

For one harrowing moment, he started to stumble on a piece of debris, thrown off by the bulky object in his hand. Fortunately, he managed to catch himself before he could fall over and cause any commotion. As quickly and quietly as he could, he made his way back to where Kuna was waiting for him. Once he arrived, he took a moment to steady his nerves. Despite putting on a brave face, being so close to the enormous creature already had his heart racing.

The sereva eyed the egg warily, then looked to Lykou. “You sure about this?”

“Mhmm. You ready?” Lykou asked after carefully setting the egg down and taking another quick sip of water.

“As I’ll ever be,” Kuna replied, bracing himself.

“Right, here goes,” Lykou said, then brought his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud, shrill whistle. The antennae jerked around in the distance over the edge of the pyramid for a moment. For good measure, Lykou reared back and let out a howl that carried even better. Suddenly, the monster scurried up over the edge of the building and looked around until it locked its eyes onto them. He quickly hoisted the egg up. “LOSE SOMETHING?!” he taunted.

The creature let out an angry combination of a roar and hiss, then began charging towards them. And the race was on.

They bolted into the jungle, with Kuna reluctantly putting some distance between himself and the canid. The jungle initially slowed the creature slightly, but not nearly enough. Soon it was practically on Lykou’s heels, so the sereva began using his magic to occasionally trip up and block the monster. It was probably the most challenging thing he’d done yet, quickly manipulating flora around them as they ran at full speed through the forest, both tripping the beast up and moving things out of the way to prevent anything from tripping either himself or his friend.

He could feel the combat snacks coursing through his veins, giving him the extra energy and drive he needed, but even then, he could feel his limits being tested. He kept shooting worried glances to the konuul, hoping to suddenly see that familiar, faint glow suddenly appear around him. Unfortunately, it never appeared. He would have brushed it off as being too far away to see it, given how subtle it was in the past- he’d only seen it before when he was up close and specifically looking for it, after all- but it still worried him. Especially when the canid nearly stumbled on a couple of occasions.

It seemed like forever before they finally came within sight of the other village. Already, some guards were starting to run up into the jungle to investigate the crashing commotion approaching it, as the enormous monster snapped and trampled brush and tree limbs in its furious chase after the egg-thief. Once the guards spotted them, they started charging towards them, though a few of the more thoughtful ones at the back suddenly slowed to a stop to consider why the trees were swaying and snapping so violently a short distance behind the two quickly-approaching and seemingly unarmed strangers.

One guard started charging at Kuna with a club-like weapon lined with jagged sharp stones embedded in its sides. He used his magic to trip the assailant and quickly bolted around him. Lykou began dodging and weaving between the attacking ursarans. Both of them started to converge as they entered the village and heard the sounds of ursaran shouts grow in alarm behind them- some of them abruptly and messily cut short as they were trampled by the angry beast.

Another guard rushed Kuna before he could find any plantlife to manipulate nearby. Spotting this, Lykou suddenly bolted over and shouted out to grab the guard’s attention. “HEY YOU!”

The guard looked up just in time to see an egg being tossed at him.

“CATCH!”

Without thinking, the guard instinctively grabbed at the egg as both Lykou and Kuna zipped past him, activating their bracers. He looked up just in time to see a massive, serrated claw coming at him. The egg dropped and cracked as it hit the ground, its shell decorated with a spray of blood moments later. A renewed, far angrier cry echoed through the village as the chaos built up. Now that its original purpose for the chase had been ended, it was out for revenge, on anything and everything it could get its claws on.

Once they were momentarily close to one another, Kuna was relieved to indeed see a faint, familiar glow around Lykou’s body as he grinned and effortlessly began dodging around attacking ursarans’ weapons. Trusting his friend’s ability to keep him safe, Kuna used the distraction to slip off towards where they’d seen the cages.

When he arrived, the prisoners were noticeably confused and frightened, huddling in the middle as they looked off in the direction of the giant monster rampaging into the village a little way away. Fortunately, the guard had rushed away when the commotion broke out on the other side of the village. Kuna quickly opened the gate, then waved the strangers over as he pulled the old golzog knife out of his bag.

The group of prisoners nervously approached him. “Wh-who are you? W-what’s that… that thing making all that noise over there??”

“Fuck if I know. Some horrifying monster,” Kuna quickly replied as he hastily cut through their bindings one at a time. “As soon as I’m done here, run like hell.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” the first stranger said, bolting away as soon as his hands were free. “Thank you, stranger!”

“Who are you, anyway?” the next asked as the sereva cut through her ropes. “And where did you come from? I… don’t recognize your, erm… appearance.”

“I’m Kuna, and I’m a sereva. Not from around here,” he answered as he finished freeing her hands, then rolled his eyes slightly at the thought. “Which is a massive understatement, believe me.”

The next one gave him a perplexed look. “A sereva? I’ve never heard of a spirit by that name…”

Kuna paused for a brief moment and gave him a look, then remembered his woody appearance. “Oh! Nono, ignore the wood. I’m not a spirit. This is from these,” he explained, briefly tapping one of his bracers before continuing to cut their bonds one after the other. “Magic artifact… things.”

“Magic?? Amazing! I assume that’s how you, er… lured that thing here without it killing you, as well?” another asked as he stared in mixed horror and awe at the far side of the village, where an ursaran’s body- or half of one, anyway- was flung onto the edge of a roof before tumbling over onto the ground.

“Pretty much. Long story. No time,” Kuna answered as he moved onto the last one’s arms. “Like I said, run as fast as you can as far as you can. Hopefully back to whatever village you came from. And warn people about what’s out here.”

“Oh believe me, I will!”

When the last prisoner was freed, he initially sprinted away, but turned and paused to call out to Kuna, “What of you?? Will you come follow us??”

“Nope, my friend and I have somewhere else to be! Now run!”

“You have a friend here??”

“Y-”

Kuna was cut off as he was suddenly yanked out of the way at the last minute, just as a jagged wooden club-sword narrowly missed his head and shattered the corner of the cage next to him. When he got back to his feet, he realized Lykou was holding him, having pulled him out of the way just as an ursaran was preparing to cave his head in. “That’d be me!”

The guard let out a savage roar as he took another swing at the two. They both jumped back out of range, and Kuna quickly manifested his magic again. Lykou then moved back close to the ursaran, much to both of their surprise.

“Damn, your breath reeks! What’ve you been eating, your own ass?”

The canid then ducked just as another guard charged forward and took a swing at him, only to end up hitting his comrade square in the face instead. Kuna couldn’t help but snort in amusement. Noting the opening, he quickly conjured up a huge cluster of roots to ensnare the second attacker while the first reeled around dizzily, nursing a nasty gash in his head. While the latter was struggling to get back up from having been tugged to the ground by the vines, the former tripped and fell on top of her. “C’mon, let’s get to the arch!”

Lykou nodded and they both turned to bolt away. Lykou paused briefly to wave and flash a grin to the last prisoner, who’d watched the scene in fascination. “I’m Lykou by the way, love to stay and chat, but we both better get running!”

“R-right!” the stranger replied as he quickly began backing away. “Thanks again! Our people will sing your names, count on it!” He then turned around and ran away as fast as he could.

Lykou and Kuna made their way to the center of the village, dodging one or two more ursaran assailants along the way. Fortunately, most of the village’s residents were occupied with the monster rampaging through the one side of the village. When they reached the throne, they were relieved to see it empty and unattended. The front side of the gateway was blocked by the throne itself, but the backside was mostly clear, and after shoving a few large vases full of flowers aside, it stood clear and ready for the sereva to activate. He conjured up his soul magic and imbued the runes in the side.

A loud grunt made him turn around. He saw Lykou straining to hold off an ursaran’s club that had been aimed at him. The canid’s arm showed a series of red, painful looking cracks where he’d caught the swing before it could reach full speed- luckily, the bracers were already healing them, but he was sure it must’ve been painful anyway. And the massive guard- a full two feet taller than Lykou- was reeling back with his other arm to land a savage blow to the konuul with his fist even as his weapon-arm was continuing to pin him down.

Kuna quickly grabbed up the ursaran with a large burst of vines and roots, then grew large, sharp thorns all over them for good measure. He could feel the combination of the biscuit’s effects and his latent hatred for ursarans starting to boil up inside him, and he let it fuel his resolve as the vines began forcibly digging into the warrior’s flesh. “FUCK OFF!”

As his attacker was distracted by the sudden magical assault and resulting pain of the thorny vines burrowing into his arms, Lykou finally broke away from the club and made for the gateway. “Let’s go!”

Kuna looked back and forth between them for a moment, with somewhat reddened eyes, suddenly starting to feel overrun with a certain unfamiliar bloodlust. But before anyone could say another word, another ursaran’s body slammed into a nearby wall, snapping him partly out of it, and the monster appeared over the top of a building across the way. He took that as his cue to turn back towards the gate with Lykou. The canid jumped through ahead of him, but he paused and looked back.

The guard they’d been battling managed to break free for a moment, then went to reach for his weapon as he shifted his attention up towards the monster, his eyes burning with determination despite his wounds, and devoid of fear. Even Kuna knew they had a weird fixation with dying in combat. But suddenly a new cluster of vines ensnared his arm and the weapon just as the monster was coming within range. He looked back to Kuna with angry disbelief. “Damn you, outsider! Let me die a warrior’s death!!”

“No,” Kuna replied, as a grin crept across his face. He flipped the guard off right as he stepped backwards into the portal. The last thing he saw was the monster’s shadow falling over the helpless guard tugging at his arm with increasing desperation.