The edge of the corruption brought a chill to Leaf’s spine. It was all covered in the white, powdery shroud of snow, but he could feel the very poison of the Gaunth’s Aether seeping into the air. It was not even something that he needed to channel Ether for, as the quiet, disconcerted looks on the rest of the party reflected his same unsettled demeanor. Even Helbram, his face obscured by the visor of his full helm, stepped with a caution that had grown thicker over the past few days.
Elly and Jahora, for their part, held resolve in their guises. The hollowness around their eyes, however, meant that their exposure to the Shriekers yesterday did not go as smoothly as he hoped. Regardless, they were there, and they had a job to do. Horrific visions or not.
Merida and Felix were absent in this excursion, having taken the stag to Geldervale to see Camil. In their stead were Geroth and Romina, but it would not be long before this group would split as well.
“You sure you’ll be alright?” Leaf asked his companions.
“We will be functional,” Elly said in a tired tone. “Let’s save ‘alright’ for after we clear these pests.”
“You’ll be waitin’ a while yet, then. Today’s jus’ a scoutin’ mission.”
“We know, but one can dream, can they not?” Jahora rubbed her brow. “I have a feeling such things will be a distant memory until this is all over.”
“Indeed,” Helbram said, “for now, let us focus on performing the task at hand.” His voice was steady, almost back to where it was before he first ran into a Shrieker. Leaf had no idea how his friend was able to regain his composure so quickly, but then again, Helbram’s will was always quick to recover. It made him want to do the same.
“I’ll take Geroth,” Leaf said, “This time of year, he’ll blend right in with the snow, and he's the quiet one.”
Romina, with her heavy steps and bck fur, huffed at her white coated mate. Geroth rubbed his snout against hers and walked over to Leaf. His paws left little noise on the snow as he walked, and his thinner, yet longer legs let him clear the distance between him and the archer in only a few strides. The rge wolf’s more narrowed build was built for speed, but it didn’t hurt that he carried the mass of a bear with him. It was a terrifying prospect to be on the opposing side of, but he didn’t know if he would prefer to face him or the stout charger that Romina was, especially when she was pted in stone.
He shook his head and focused, running a hand through Geroth’s fur. “You sure you all are going to be up for covering the perimeter? It’s a lot of ground to cover in a single group.”
“That it is,” Helbram said, “But we will have to make do for the day. It is too dangerous for us to split up at the moment.”
Jahora scratched her scalp with a frustrated groan. “I was so close to coming up with the right enchantment, too… I hope you all don’t mind if I experiment some today. Only when it is appropriate, of course. Even with Merida’s guidance, developing something for purification through Runic Script rather than instinct is difficult…”
“I know the basics, at least,” Elly added, “It helps that it is simir to healing magics, and that a Weaver’s Method is a bit closer to a Druid’s.”
“Regardless, we will have to feel out further testing,” Helbram said. “For now, we should maintain the formation we discussed before. I will draw them to the front, Elly will slip around them, and you will cover the both of us from afar.”
A frown hooked the Mage’s lips down. “It doesn’t seem right, using you as bait.”
“It is the strategy that makes them the most predictable. Besides, with the both of you covering me, I doubt any harm will come to pass.”
The bck wolf next to him grunted.
Helbram snorted. “And you, Romina, that was never in doubt.” He gave the beast a pat on her head, which she accepted with a self satisfied smile.
Leaf eyed the man with a narrowed gaze. “You sure you’re goin’ to be alright?”
The warrior nodded, and though his face couldn’t be read, there was less of a slouch to his shoulders this day. It was still not as he was before, but the man was improving. He held a fist up to Leaf. “Do be a charitable sort and y the Countless to rest while you are about, yes?”
The archer scoffed and rapped his knuckles against his friends. “Aye, I’ll make sure to bring back the head of a Dragon too, while I’m at it.”
His companions dashed off into the trees, leaving him along with Geroth. He ran a hand through the white wolf’s pelt. “You don’t mind if I hitch a ride today, right?”
The beast snorted and bent his legs, giving Leaf an easier time to hop onto his back. Beneath his surprisingly soft fur, Geroth’s muscle was like rock. The archer grabbed a tuft of the wolf’s pelt and braced himself.
“Go.”
Geroth sprung from the ground, speeding through the forest at speed that turned the foliage and snow into splotches of white and darkened brown. Leaf funneled Ether into his eyes, which brought crity back to his vision, but upon doing so he became aware the corruption had spread. The trees around him were nothing more than husks that clung upon the barest thread of life. The rest of them were… poisoned. That sickly green aura from the Gaunths was thick in the air, bnketing all life around them, but he could see from the way that the energy moved that something about the energy was different. Rather than bleed out from the corrupted foliage, the energy was seeping in and cwing at the remaining life forces of their victims. Even worse, it all shifted and clenched around the trees like it was a mangled limb to a much rger body. He hoped that this was the result of the hive’s size, and not solely in the control of its head. If it was…
He shook his head. Now was not the time to get distracted by such things.
The archer kept looking around the environment, scanning for Gaunths and for any clear oddities in the ndscape. He kept his map open, pressing firmly onto the pages so they didn’t flip from Geroth’s movements. Logic told him that they should be heading towards the center of the corrupted area, but there was an instinct that pulled at him to search the south end of the territory first. His observation of the corrupted Aether made him notice a small drift in its flow to that direction, and he turned Geroth to head that way. Smothering all else but sight and hearing, his senses grew even keener in observing the forest that whipped on by. He could hear distant shuffling through the trees -Crawlers, most likely- and made sure that Geroth was always a good distance away from the noise. The enlightened wolf’s senses were keen, but Leaf’s practice with his Technique had allowed him to be quicker than the beast. In that regard, at least.
He reyed most of these observations to the wolf through his intent, an effort of will that was a lot like channeling his Ether, but rather for his thoughts and instinct instead. It wasn’t perfect -only a few days under Merida’s teaching made it more broken than fully cognizant- but it was enough to be understood by the beast. The first few suggestions earned skeptical looks from Geroth, especially when the changes in direction that the archer urged for were abrupt and random. However, after the wolf sniffed out and confirmed the first few threats that Leaf noticed before him, he accepted any further suggestions without question. Despite Merida’s confidence in Leaf right at the outset, it appeared the beast had still held some doubt in him till now. That, Leaf could understand. His own doubt was still weighing on him.
More streaks of white fred by as they continued to search the southern part of the territory. Geroth’s movements slowed at Leaf’s suggestion, and the archer searched through the corrupted trees again, funnelling more Ether into his eyes. The flow of the fel beasts’ Aether was more erratic now, twisting and turning in every single way. It was too jarring of a shift, too stark from the other parts of the forest, for it to be a coincidence. They were getting closer, but the way was covered by something, possibly a smaller, more subtle illusion maintained by a Shrieker.
The ck of any ambushes meant that he and Geroth were most likely still unnoticed, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t one of the nky aberrations in the area. He sent a burst of intent asking the wolf to stop so he could get a better look around. The beast did so, but kept a cautious eye around them while Leaf hopped off of his back. He smothered his hearing and fed more Ether into his eyes, flinching at his increased sensitivity to light and taking a moment to steady himself. He blinked rapidly and took another look around. The flow of corrupted Aether was erratic still, revealing no secrets to whatever illusion was its cause. At least… he assumed it was an illusion. The fact that he was focusing solely on sight and still nothing was revealed made him doubt that fact. He cycled through each sense, making them solitary to determine if any of them would pick up something that would allow him to pick up where the Shrieker was. By the time that he cycled back to sight, none of his efforts bore fruit. He couldn’t-
A distant glint of light blue caught him off guard. It was a Skybell, still alive within this corruption when all other foliage that wasn’t covered by snow was long dead and withered. Like before, he had an impulse to sprint after it, but he smothered it. However, that did not stop him from walking towards it slowly. Geroth followed, tilting his head in confusion but not stopping the archer from his path. When he drew close to the flower, he saw that the soil it had settled in was only a small patch amongst a clearing of stones. Their shapes were irregur, the result of countless years of weathering, but he also saw that the Aether from the Gaunths did not move past them. Perhaps the energy needed some sembnce of life to tch onto before it tried to corrupt anything, making the rocks a natural barrier that protected the Skybell from the decaying energies.
Leaf scanned the trees again, making sure that he could not spot any Gaunth’s among the trees, then stepped towards the flower. Geroth followed, still confused by the archer’s interest. He held his hand up to the wolf and focused on an image of his mother and father, then of the image of the Skybell that his mother kept on her windowsill. The beast huffed in acknowledgement, but did only a little to stifle his confusion. Truthfully, Leaf didn’t know why he did this, but he tapped the Skybell anyway, the imaginary ring he always gave it echoing through his mind. A false sound that brought back memories, those of dinners filled with ughter, of arguments that bordered just on heated… of him crying into his mother’s arms after his father got a bottle bashed against his head. Because of him.
“Why?” he had asked her, “Why do this for me? I’m not your son, I’m not of your blood…”
He shook his head and pushed the memory aside. The words he said then… too shameful to remember. In its pce, another memory took hold.
“No, No, you’re gettin’ the order all wrong.” It was his father’s voice, one that traveled through trees much more alive than the ones around him now. “Sight’s st, it always will be.”
“That doesn’ make any sense!” Leaf had argued, “Sight’s what we use most!”
“An’ that’s why it’s st! You need somethin’ to tie it all together! What, were you goin’ to use smell to add a dash of sprinkles to the paintin’?
“We’re not paintin’ old man, we’re huntin’!”
“An’ it's an art! Youngin’s these days, I swear…”
The rest of the memory faded back into his mind. He remembered where it had led, to a competition between him and his father to see who’s method would let them catch more game. The old man won, handily, and he gloated about it for days afterwards. It was a memory that started bitter, but had grown sweet the further away he was from it. He moved to stand up, but that memory made him realize something. He had been getting the order wrong this entire time.
How could I have let that happen? The old man would never let me hear the end of it if he found out…
He signaled for Geroth to keep an eye out. The wolf obeyed, and Leaf closed his eyes to focus. His Core pulsed, and his Ether flowed in sequence.
He used touch first, feeling the wind around him to determine that it was flowing to the west, sifting through holes in the snow covered trees or foliage that had not been veiled in powder. The outlines of the scenery around him took hold, like the first lines on a sketchbook.
Hearing was next, listening for the sounds that the wind carried. An erratic, broken hum drifted into his ears. It brought a chill up his spine, but he could now tell the noise was coming from his right. It was filtered by the deadened foliage, but the way it silently echoed through the forest added further detail over the sketch in his mind. Trees took shape, clustered around the general area of the noise’s origin.
Smell followed, picking up an acrid, musky scent that was also carried by the breeze. Its presence further confirmed the direction that the noise was coming from, and this confirmation made him notice the notes of the erratic song much clearer than before. Color spshed over the leaves, and the image in his mind took further shape.
Taste came after, a sense that he at first did not know how to incorporate into this sequence. It was so affected by smell that he considered eliminating it from the order, but his father never did, so he wouldn’t either. He rolled his tongue around his lips, trying to tell if somehow an Ether enhanced taste would let him tell if something was off about the air. To his surprise, it did, and he could feel a sour fvor seep onto his tongue. He nearly recoiled from the sensation, but most surprising of all was the fact that It also gave him a direction. It was the same as the smell, but this was the thread that weaved that scent together, making its direction much more defined. A glow appeared amongst the trees, sickly green to match the Aether that was no doubt being exuded by the aberration.
Finally, sight brought it all together. He let Ether flow into his eyes when he opened them, the energy now suffused evenly through all of his senses. There was a togetherness that wasn’t there before, something that muted the oversensitivity from before and repced it with pure focus. The canvas was complete, filling in the gaps of his mental picture with the rest of the forest, except this time he could see everything that the dense, deadened foliage once hid.
That included the Shrieker hanging from the trees to his right.
The aberration was deeper than the edge of the clearing Leaf stood in, hanging from a thick branch that supported its irregur, but heavy shape. Its bulbous lower body sat upon the limb like a sack of wet flesh while its wiry upper body hung from the tree and dangled like a half broken branch. The creature’s mouth was open. Its thin, petal-like lips unduting with the movements of the cilia that lined its maw. The globur mass of meat that drooped down from its mangled teeth pulsed with that glow the archer picked up before. His hands went to his bow and Geroth tensed, following Leaf’s eyes and finally noticing the Sheiker.
Right when he was about to draw the bow, he stopped. The nature of the aberrations’ hive mind pushed its way to the forefront of his mind. The Shrieker may not have noticed Leaf in its effort to maintain the illusion that the archer had seen through, but the moment that an arrow struck its heart held the possibility of alerting the rest of the hive that something was close to its entrance. Every nerve in his body screamed at him to strike down the aberration, but he smothered the impulse and let caution guide him instead. Geroth did not share this sentiment, and started to prowl towards the Shrieker, but Leaf held him back by pcing a hand against the wolf’s side. In broken thoughts he reyed his reasoning, and though the beast looked back at the aberration with an uncomfortable expression, he eventually gave Leaf a nod and stepped back.
Rather than remain out in the open, Leaf and Geroth skulked towards the tree line. The archer’s senses were now firing altogether, letting him not only see the flow of Aether around him more clearly, but also feel it better as well. It was the combination of these senses that allowed the archer to sense a faint current through the chaotic guise put upon by the oblivious Shrieker. Moving slowly, Leaf led Geroth on foot to follow the trail.
They kept a snail’s pace in their trek, feeling and seeing the density of the corrosive energies sit heavier upon not only them, but the environment itself. The aura of emerald energy that normally swirled around Geroth was reduced to mere wisps, and though the enlightened beast showed no signs of slowing down, the occasional grinding of his teeth told Leaf that the energy was unsettling the wolf. Leaf’s Ether, however, appeared to be retively unaffected, allowing him to maintain the constant flow throughout his body.
There were multiple times in their journey that they took cover from creatures that dashed by. Crawler’s composed most of them, but the lumbering Brutes and sickly wet noises of the Shriekers occasionally passed by as well. Thanks to Leaf’s ability to detect them early and Geroth’s overall stealthiness, they remained hidden though it all. That did not stop concern from prodding at the archer the entire time. There was only one trail that the Gaunths were walking, the one that his companions were most likely at the end of. He had faith that his friends could hold their own, but the prospect of continued reinforcements still put him at unease.
With that in mind, he started to speed his steps. They were putting themselves in danger, and he owed it to them to reduce the time that they were exposed as much as possible; even if that meant that he would endanger himself.
Half an hour passed as he and Geroth sifted through the corrupted woods, and he could tell that he was getting closer to the entrance of the hive. The trees were more mangled under their shrouds of snow, and the corrupted energies were practically throbbing around him. They slipped by multiple Shriekers on their path, all hanging like the first one that he spotted. Whatever they were doing would most likely hide the location of their nest to everyone except Leaf, but it also left them distracted enough that they did not spot Leaf or Geroth. Finally, after sifting through acres of deadened foliage, they found it.
The hive.
The entrance was in a wide clearing. It was a hole, one that looked as if it had been dug by nails and with mounds of dirt surrounding its mouth. The size of it could fit multiples of Geroth on top of each other, which only left dread at the pit of Leaf’s stomach. He hoped that its height and width were more for letting out rger quantities of the creatures rather than the size of the Countess, but that thought was still unsettling as well.
Cracked earth surrounded the hive’s entrance. Pces that would have at least held deadened grass were completely bare and dry, much like the dirt of fts that had too much sunshine beating down on them. Instead of the sun, however, it was the corrosive energies that bled into the crust. Leaf’s enhanced eyes could see the beginnings of scales start to form on top of the dirt, much like the ptes that were on the backs of Crawlers and Brutes. They grew thicker the closer they got to the entrance, and within the shadows of the hive’s mouth Leaf could see that the ptes melded together into ridges that trailed off into the shadows. The sheen that reflected off of the material made it appear wet, and from a certain angle Leaf thought he was looking down a giant’s throat.
If that didn’t unsettle him, the noises around him would. The sickly hums of multiple Shriekers drifted through the clearing, a corruptive chorus that brought gooseflesh across all of his skin. The air was sour in taste and smell, and even the dirt beneath his feet felt wrong. He wanted to let go of his Ether to lessen the sensations he was feeling, but he knew he had to maintain it. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out his notebook and mapped out the path to the hive. When he was done, he looked back at the entrance and felt a dangerous impulse.
If he ventured in, he could get knowledge of the hive’s yout, which would aid them when they decided to strike. However, if he did go in, there was a high chance that he would be spotted and more than likely would not make it out. But, if it was possible to make the coming conflict easier…
Geroth pulled at Leaf’s sleeve with his teeth. When the archer met the wolf’s eyes, the beast shook his head. Apparently, his intent was easy to read this time. He looked back at the tunnel, catching the glint of the chitinous material that lined its walls, and looked away. Geroth was right.
It was time to head back.
Author’s Note: Switching from my usual dialogue heavy shenanigans to something much more quiet and introspective around this time. I was going to write out a section where Merida taught him how to speak with intent, but honestly at the rate I'm going if I keep trying to flesh it out that much we'll never get out of this arc, so I had it happen in the background for the time being. Definitely something I might reconsider with the rewrite, however...
Regardless, I wanted to show something personal for Leaf here, and his association with the Skybell is my little thread of him reconciling his past with who he is at the present. Since he's been pretty consistent I didn't want to make it some bombastic moment, but rather just a gentle "hey, remember your roots" moment that lets him finally get his thoughts in order. I'll be exploring some more of that ter, but right now we can finally see Leaf getting his abilities sorted out enough to be effective.
As always, let me know what you think of the chapter! Till next update everyone ^_^
