A Brace of Beasts

[Erik]

It was a small village, nestled deep into the wilds of Tular. Barely larger than a simple collection of huts, the two main buildings of the small village were the tavern and the blacksmith - and even those were not that large. The tavern was the busiest place this even though, with the men and women laughing and cheering to each other. The harvest had just been collected, and they had more than enough supplies to last them through the winter. Which meant that they could devote their attention to securing other materials - namely, metals from the mine that they had started just last winter.

The mine gave the men folk something to do as the winter months passed by, aside from getting black out drunk at the tavern. They hadn't paid too much attention to it recently though, as making sure they had enough food to last through the cold months had taken far higher priority for these folks. But - mining could wait for later. Tonight, they would celebrate the end of the harvest! For the next few days the men would hunt, and the women gather, from the nearby woods.

Things were slightly strained though. And that was entirely because of the large man in robes that was sitting at the bar, sipping ale from a tankard. He had come in yesterday, and offered to help with the harvest - an offer that was soundly refused. The man had merely shrugged, informed them he would be drinking for the next few days, then leave them be. So several of the men of the village were keeping a close eye on him, making sure he got up to nothing nefarious - and aside from driving enough to have pickled the liver of four men, he didn't seem to be up to anything at all.

Then a child ran into the bar, screaming, and the entire tone of the evening changed. The small girl ran to her father and leapt into his arms, sobbing about a 'tree that ate her sheep'. Most of the villagers tried to ignore it, dismissing it as the fantasies of a child who was scared by something - that is, until the father brought one hand away from her back, and found that his hand was slick with blood. With a strangled scream he checked his daughter, and found that the back of her simple dress was torn, and there was a gash in her back.

Tears began to roll down his face as his daughter quieted - sniffling, weakening. There was no medicine man in town, not tonight - and he wouldn't be back in the town for another few weeks to months if the snow was bad enough. They would have to do their best with what they had to save his little girl-

"A warm breeze is blowing. Fret not,
neighbor." It was the voice of the stranger. He had thrown his hood back and approached the father and daughter, and in one hand was a strange cross-shaped object, with bells hanging from the sides. He knelt beside them, and took one of the girl's hands in his. "Little one, I know it hurts and you are scared, but I need you to be brave a few minutes longer. Hold tight to your father, he will not let anything else hurt you. Now. Thus he saw their wounds were many, but small, and he sheltered them in his warm embrace, the tears of his sorrow washing away the stings of pain. Minor Heal." Warm gold light coalesced around the robed man as he shook the chime in his hand, bells ringing softly, pleasantly. The light sank down into an ornate circle that flowed around his feet, filling with strange symbols - and then a bright glow filled the room. When the light faded, the wound on the girl's back had closed up, though she still looked rather pale.

"I can do naught for the dress, I am afraid. Now, little one - can you point the way to where this tree attacked you?" Murmurs filled the air, shock and disbelief mingling.

"It sounds like you have a treant problem, neighbors. An almost sentient tree, and it must be dealt with now, as it has a taste for blood, and will only grow stronger as time passes."

[Avin]

Though I did not need to eat, there was a possiblity that I could.

After my ill adventures with a great winged beast of once great renown I began my journey home. Or, what I could term as home now, for my life within the Rook Flock of the kenku lands was very over. Instead I had one place to go - back to the grey granite temple of Sabazios, where once merriment had been aplenty, and now manipulation was core. Devious planning to rid the world of the same demon lord's enemies, and that of his new compadre, the half-god Vindrexis Quansaldo. My masters, my creators, who I had sworn my life to for the simple reason that they had brought me back into this world.

I had now recovered fully from the incident with the quetzacoatl guardian of the Forest of Tucanon. He had been provoked to wage war on his own people, and I had been sent to calm the beast down. We had succeeded, and now I was trudging my way back, grumpiness my only companion, dragging my long naginata spear behind me. I felt tired, but knew it could only be emotional and mental, for physical weariness was beyond me now.

Therefore, in such a mood as I was, when I happened upon a pub in the middle of a seemingly quaint village, I decided to risk it and head right on in. At least I did not look undead, aside from my light grey feathers. There was no flesh missing. Yet.

Still, though, I tugged up the hood of my old, black cloak, and pulled on the tattered leather gloves that I had died with. They would allow me to touch anything without harming myself and others. With my 'mysterious individual' look complete, I pushed open the door to the pub, and found it suitably alive.

Hardly anyone noticed me, thankfully, aside from two people at the door. One raised a single eyebrow at a shadowy, hooded figure with the tip of a beak extending from his cloak, but made no comment. I grunted a sort-of thanks and lumbered onwards, a satisfied sigh at the image of mortality around me. Very lovely to see, a very nice change from hanging around with demon and half-god devotees, and the supernatural beings themselves. Heading straight for the bar I tried to make as few clicks on the floor as I could with my taloned feet, and even lifted up the tail end of my naginata.

That was when I paused, as something familiar appeared out of the corner of my eye. Taking a moment, I frowned, but then tilted my head slightly to observe the person in question.

A figure, leaning over a girl and blessing her hand. Dark brown, slightly messy hair, tanned skin and a faitn whiff of death about him. So faint I would usually barely notice it, but I knew this fellow. I recognised him. As I saw him raise the strange cross icon I blinked, and felt amusement come to me. How intriguing that he would be here, after we had just battled and met a few days hence.

Erik. A healer and a being who was just as undead as I was. Picking up the spear that threatened to damage the light fixtures I headed quietly over to him, the white kenku amongst the under demons and humans.

Gently I prodded him with the end of my naginata, and said nothing.

[Erik]

I had scarcely finished speaking, and I already knew that these people would be of no help in dealing with their problem. Not that I could blame them - they were farmers, simple villagers. The most they had to deal with even out here would be some wild animals. Certainly nothing like a treant, which were rare beasts in the worst of cases. Flame, that meant I'd be dealing with it alone. Which meant, I would probably die a few times until I managed to figure out how to appropriately handle the blasted thing. And of course my pyromancies were still locked to me - blast and double blast, they would have been so useful here.

I was in the process of standing up when someone prodded my back. There wasn't any hostility in the poke, so it had caught me a bit off-guard. Strange, the villagers who were looking at me seemed afraid. My hand tightened on my chime as I slowly turned around to see what was causing this reaction - feathers?

I blinked and processed what I was looking at, and the faint tremor of unease faded a bit. I could see why the villagers looked afraid, the individual standing there was even stranger than I was, and most decidedly not human. It was Avin, the Kenku I had met while we were working to subdue the Quetzalcoatl guardian. He had managed to keep a calm head despite the chaos of that battle, and despite what I had originally thought would be nasty wounds for a living being. But then, he was loving on the same sense that I was, wasn't he?

It was a bit funny to run into him again, so soon after that fight. The four of us had gone out separate ways - I had been rather eager to get away from the man who reminded me of the Soul of Cinder that had cast judgement on me in particular. So I hadn't been expecting to see any of them for some time if ever again.

"Goodman Avin, a pleasure to see you again. Hmm." He was, from what I had seen, a skilled fighter. Moreover, his state allowed him to operate as a dreadfully effective frontline fighter - he could shrug off heavy wounds quickly. This might be just what I need to save these people. "It's a bit sudden, but would you help me in hunting a beast? These villagers are threatened by a treant in the nearby woods, and I intend to deal with it." The offer made the ball was in my acquaintance's court.

[Avin]

My brows rose as I heard and considered what he said. So he was here, healing and doing what he could to help these village people, who struggled against some other adversary. Head tilting slightly I blinked a few times, my eyes moving from the Erik man to the girl he had just finished assisting.

Small and slight she could not be older than seven or eight years. Her wild hair with leaves and grasses tucked within spoke of her nature as a local girl. By the way she clutched to the man behind her, and the similarities between them I deduced he was her father, and he was a farmer or other seasonal labourer. A simple family, simple relationship. A tear in the back of her dress spoke of how large the injury had been that Erik had just healed with his abilities.

For a moment I simply stared between the humanoids around me. I thought of where I was going - namely back home to where my two masters lived. And I thought of my orders. They had been to go and quieten the guardian beast called Quetzalcoatl. That I had done, with help from others who had been in the vacinty, or likewise been sent.

So now ... Now I had nothing. I had completed what I had been sent to do. Nothing needed to hold me back. Neither Sabazios or Vindrexis had mentioned anything about what I might be able to do on the way back.

And they didn't know how long my journey home might take. Or if I had been (which I hadn't been but nevermind, I could have been) asked to stay with the villagers under the Quetzalcoatl's guardianship, and make sure all was well.

Thus, I huffed and my brow rose again. I nodded, grunting and thinking, "Why the hell not?" Better to prolong my return by another day and avoid whatever experiment my lord Vindrexis wanted to do on my body. I could imagine him now.

"Let's see how you cope with death by being hung, drawn and quartered." The thought made me consider if indeed I had guts. My experiences thus far had not allowed me to discover if they, alongside my heart, had withered to nothing. In that moment I considered taking one of my blades (likely my tanto, as the smallest) and slicing open my abdomen in curiosity. I realised though that doing such in a pub, with a small child before me, may not go favourably.

I might find out when I got back to the temple, my home of now. But I was going to remain here for now. I respected Vindrexis enough to return but not enough to hurry back.

"Yes," I said simply. "What beast? Where?"

I looked around at the people who stared at me oddly and grunted. I leant heavily on my Naginata and kept my eyes on Erik. I promised to myself I would go poking around in my body until I was finished with this new mission. I would not be useful to anyone if I was in pain and had a large whole in my body.

[Erik]

A small wash of relief went through me when the bird-man agreed to help. If he hadn't - well, I would have still gone to hunt this thing down, but alone it would have been a far more painful process than it was now going to be. While his combat style was about as self-destructive as my own - we both tended to ignore minor wounds and just kept rolling despite them - he was quite skilled at melee combat. Pairing him with my predilection for ranged combat meant things would go far smoother.

"From what the girl said, it is a tree creature of some kind. As for where - well, we can follow the trail of blood to find out where she was injured." I rested one hand on the girl's head and said a small benediction for her - I knew the gods of my world were not listening, but maybe this world had an active pantheon. A slight tug and I fought down a smile - it did indeed. Hopefully these ones were not like those I was familiar with.

Blessing made, I tucked my chime into my bag and went to retrieve my gear. The shield was strapped to my arm, the sheathed sword slung to my hip, and the quiver was attached to the hooks at the small of my back. I picked up my bow - which, unstrung, was nearly nine feet tall. I had to carry the thing at a steep angle to keep I from hitting everything on the ceiling as I gestured for Avon to follow me. Now the real reason for where I had sat down was revealed - it was a straight shot to the door, and I didn't have to maneuver my bow around any table or chairs as I headed outside.

The crisp night air stung my cheeks as I took in a breath. The wintry wind even smelled cold - cold and a bit damp. I frowned and looked to the clouds that were gathering overhead. It was a bit difficult to tell due to the low light that broke through - but those looked like snow clouds.

"By the Flame. Goodman Avin, we need to hurry in our tracking - it looks like it will be snowing soon and we cannot afford to lose the trail." My eyes swiftly scanned the ground - lighting upon a small patch of blood to my right. That poor child - she would definitely need tender care after this. My hand tightened on my bowstaff as I started moving, following the blood trail back in the direction of n it came from. I just hoped the snow held off long enough for us to find the beast.

[Avin]

Snow.

I bristled and tried to remember what snow was like. Definitely cold, somewhat very white. I thought about how it might appear on my whispy feathers, a highlight on the broken, deadened grey, specks of light on this corpse. I wondered if I could even feel the cold, as I was now. Like hunger, would it even effect me? Could I suvive then, in the wilds of Berevar indefinitely? And what about heat? Would the deserts of Fallien be such a torment? Strong, rainless summers? I knew that drowning was out because of my lack of need of oxygen, but did that mean that I could potentially swim for all eternity? Surely I would get tired, energy depleted ... I still needed some form of rest.

My mind filled with these new considerations to my immortal condition. Breathing in I slung my naginata over my shoulder and started off beside Erik. It extended out behind me for a good two feet, like the post for a hunter's catch. Perhaps I would find something today, to be able to skin and use for the future, or perhaps not. What was a need was that we strode, and fast, for Erik seemed truly worried about the weather.

I understood his point about the tracks, for they were a part of the general concern. Provided we stayed ahead of the rain and potential snow, we would be able to find these creatures. These ... tree beasts. I imagined strong, hard bark exteriors, knobbly joints and bad moods. Hair made from leaves and vines, faces of wrinkled horror. I had heard of such things in my past life, but never seen one.

Certainly I was intrigued, eager to do something other than die, for once.

My eyes swept the paths before us and I saw a sharp scar in a trunk nearby. It was deep, scarily so, at least three inches. Tilting my head I was certain that it was made not by a normal creature's claw, with the scent of sap streaming from it, and freshly cut wood. This was a recent cut, a clean one, and the light interior was clear beneath the bark. Blinking I stared at it for a moment before lifting my head and grunting.

"Erik," I said, "This," and I nodded to the cut.

It was made by no bear or wolf, I was sure. Rather, it was the beginning of a larger trail, and I was sure I could smell the stench of death whispering to me from ahead. Raising my beak, where my nose was situated along with my mouth, I sniffed the air, then nodded.

"Death is close," I surmised. "This way."

And I stabbed the air with the end of my spear.

[Erik]

The air around us was thick,
choking wet almost. Avin seemed not to notice, aside from shaking his feathers a few times, but I was definitely beginning to feel the chill setting in, sapping at the strength in my muscles. That was another reason why we had to press on as quickly as possible - Avin and his peculiar brand of undeath wouldn't make him return somewhere else, he would be able keep operating even when he should have died.

I however, was still concerned with mortal constraints like that, even if I had long since passed from. The normal state of the flow of life. I might be able to come back when I perished - but I still felt it, felt the pangs, that creeping, aching cold that was far worse than what was around us. That impossible chill would rob me of just a little bit of my inner Flame, sapping my Soul. I did not want that to happen - I hated the regression in my mind whenever I went even slightly Hollow. So finishing this before it got cold enough to actually injure or kill me was high on my list.

Then Avin spotted something. My eyes were trained on the ground, trying to follow the trail of blood, while he watched for other dangers. Or, apparently, signs that we were in the right track. When I swear the massive claw mark in the tree, I felt a thrill run through me. Even now,
even I who in my world had done his best to escape the damn able cycle of the Flame, even I craved more Souls. More Souls meant more power, and I needed my power back. I had been lax, careless, and their damn champion found me and cast me down.

And a beast that could leave such a mark with what looked like casual ease? Oh, it had to have plenty of Souls, it just had to. I could help the villagers, and myself, in the same act. I drew in a deep, deep breath, filling my lungs with the chilly air.

"Good eye, Goodman Avin." There was no shame in complimenting others on a job well done. Even those backstabbers had understood that. I followed the bird man, as he followed a thickening trail of clawed trees. I thought it was interesting as I looked at the trail. At first I hadn't noticed it, but closer, continued inspection showed something rather strange.

Each tree that we passed that had been struck with a claw - had only been struck the once, a single claw biting into the wood and tearing a gouge out. It might not be anything remarkable - if we weren't hunting down a Treant, a creature known for hiding amongst the trees. I paused in my steps a moment as the thought crystallized in my mind.

"Goodman Avin, a word of caution. There's something else in these woods with us - something hunting the treant as we are." As we walked through the trees, I strung my bow, muscles straining to bend the massive length of wood to my will. It was a powerful weapon, but one that required all of my strength right now to draw and shoot. I pulled out one of the massive arrows - a spiraled twist of iron that was closer in size to a javelin than an arrow - and nocked it to the string.

I don't know if Avin saw it before I did, if I saw it before he, or if we saw it at the same time. But I know, we both saw the beast. It was not the treant we were hunting - no, this was some kind of demented boar, an enormous creature easily the size of a large carriage. Strewn across its body were thick plates of bone - obvious defenses against those that would try to harm it. Jutting from its forehead was another bone plate, that ran down its nose, with a large, wickedly hooked spike of bone protruding from the center of its face. The horn was dripping with sap, and coated with wood - this, this was the beast that was hunting the treant, as we were.


And it had found its prey. Long, spindly, bark covered fingers were clasped against a wood coated trunk, as a demented face, coated in leaves and twigs, snarled in pain. Where the boar was massive, this thing was tall,
easily fifteen or twenty feet in height - perfect for hiding its face amongst the upper branches of trees. Its moss covered face was twisted in a rictus of anger, as sharp leaves swirled into the air around it - and shot towards the boar.

[Avin]

If I had had some, my breath would have wooshed out of my chest. As it was, I had lost the instinct to do much of that a few weeks ago now. Instead, my chest rose - and then stayed there, as if a build of of pressure had made it fill, then stayed at that limit. Blinking, I tilted my head, staring down at the two creatures before us.

A dire boar, fierce and brutal, the size of four or five horses in both bulk and size. A downy coat of brown, coarse fur made up this monster's hide, one that was wicked and spoke of harsh but warm nights. Certainly, this pig of mammoth size, could survive in a cold wood like this. He could stomach the freezing winds and live through the harshest freezes. All he would need was a fresh surplus of feed to keep it going - meat or vegetables would suffice.

The treant curled around him was fearsome also to behold. Massive, standing on tree-trunk literal legs, he made a bellow as the leaves that he - or was it an 'it' - had magically summoned up spiralled at the boar. The wind and the flat leaves bashed against the boar, but he seemed to be able to stomach it - he was definitely a 'he,' for sake of the tusks and the wondrous package I could see dangling beneath his two hind legs - and only was pushed back a foot or so. I saw Erik swing up his massive bow that was more metal than wood and begin to fix an arrow upon it. Nodding to him once I prepared myself, swinging forth the blade of my naginata, and wanting a mount so badly.

But where in this ruined, cold world would I find a chocobo right for me.

The boar let out a savage roar and suddenly pushed off with his hooves to charge the treant beast. I saw the wicked claw-like, branchy fingers swing out and try to scrape at the boar's flank. They were locked in battle certainly, beast against beast, with little regard for the two undead beings who hunted them, and watched from amongst the snows. Uncertainty filled me as I saw the boar slam the treant against a tree trunk and those dead leaves that remained clinging to branches were shaken off, along with freshly falling snow.

My head was met with some of that snow and I hissed as I felt ... the cold. Ah, then so I could feel such a thing. My feet were apparently just too numb, and my tunic presumably was sufficient so far.

Curling my gloved hands around my naginata I slipped to the side, watching the grasping monsters grapple at one another against the heavy trunk. I slid in the icy snow, and whisked around to where I wanted to be - by the boar's flank. Looking up at Erik I mimed myself stabbing the pig, whilst he prepared himself, and I let a sliver of joy enter into my eyes.

I would wait for his action, then go with mine.

[Erik]

Isn't it fantastic when the beasties decide to fight each other? Just makes it that much easier to finish off the wounded little pricks. Watching the two titanic beasts tussle was reminding me of the battles I had seen the Hollows get engaged in. Even in the final stage of Undeath, they would continue to fight each other, locked forever in the routines that they had once possessed in life. That - that wasn't what was happening here, but it was damn reminiscent of it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Avin had crept away from me, winking and with a gleam in his eye. He jabbed his weapon - it looked like a glaive of sorts, I really had to ask him what it was called - towards the side of the boar. So he wanted to take the living beast for himself? That was fine with me.

I would kill this bastard of a tree then. That was fine by me - it had hurt the townsfolk, and I was more than alright with my goals synching up like this. I watched as the Boar slammed that massive horn into the Treant, goring its stomach again. The sentient tree retaliated by digging its fingers into one of the bony plates on the side of the boar and ripping it away, exposing tender flesh, the skin ripped away. If we left them alone, one would kill the other - and then would likely die of the injuries inflicted in battle. It wasn't like these brutes had doses of Estus to chug. Damn. Now I wished I had Estus. I would have to find someone who could replicate the Flame's effects and use it to restore me.

I shook off that errant thought and drew a deep breath, and began drawing the bowstring back. I would open with an arrow attack - keeping in mind that I did have a rather limited number of the fearsome weapons at the moment - and then move to my javelins. This seemed like a solid, safe plan. Well, not safe. It did mean throwing lightning at a monstrous being, but hey. I was throwing it, not trying to get up close and stab them with it. Not yet, at least. Oh, I hoped I recovered enough to use the Lightning Weapon miracle again soon. Being able to wreathe a weapon in a coating of Lightning was always a good thing, even when it wasn't.

There, an opening! The Treant had balled up its hands together and smashed the Boar in the side of its head, sending it sprawling away for a few moments. As the Boar struggled back to its feet, the Treant was leaning heavily to one side, trying to use the breather to recover from the goring that it had suffered. Too bad that its focus was a little too intense. Well, too bad for it. Fantastic for me. I drew back, muscles groaning as I pulled the heavy bow-string taut. There - it stopped moving for a second too long.

TWANG The bow string snapped forward, breaking my concealment. not that I cared really. I dropped my bow as the massive arrow sliced through the cold night air, plunging into the side of the Treant, impaling it on the iron shaft. I snatched my chime from my belt and began chanting as I moved to avoid the Treant's retributive attack - a torrent of razor sharp leaves that ripped up the soil where I had been moments before. As Lightning crackled into life around my hand, an imperial golden-yellow, I shot my eyes over to check on my companion's progress.

[Avin]

Swift. Brazen. Decisive.

As I saw Erik 'Goodman' (he did call me one, so he would get the title also, surely) release a brilliant mighty dart that was the arrow from his bow, I grinned. My eyes lit up with a glory that was beyond anything that I remembered and I smelt the sweet first notes of death. Death that I knew was coming, death that they, the fighting behemoths were not expecting. Hissing wth the beauty that was violence and blood, I watched the javelin-sized arrow shrieked through the air. Then, as it scored to its destination I let myself fire like a second arrow from the depths of the trees, my naginata descended as a guillotine.

Stabbing the air towards the boar's flank. Destiny I called my enemy, his destiny being to die by my blade. Bursting out from the darkness, blind to him as his first fight was his primary focus. I was simply bringing the second round.

Down I stabbed, a ghastly scream bursting from my beak. I didn't watch to see the trajectory of Erik's arrow. Instead my attention was on Destiny. My naginata blade jabbed down, deep into the flesh of his flank. Suddenly his head reared back and he literally screamed - far worse than he had with the treant at any point Avin had seen.

Swiftly, the boar Destiny turned around, his sharp hooves grinding in the snow and making long, dark scars in the earth. I saw, when he came to face me, that he had several long and bloody cuts on his shoulder, as well as one of his eyes was nearly closed with heavy bruising - his impact from the treant. This was good, I surmised as I dragged out my blade and stabbed towards him again, this time aiming for the throat. If I was a human, a savage grin would be over my face. Instead I simply opened my beak ...

And cawed a mighty challenge as I thrust again.

Forwards came the raging boar. Forwards went my blade. We met in the centre with a horrible clash, tusk against damascus steel, then we separated. We took a breath, Destiny and I, then struck again. I received a slash on my shoulder - fine golden sand began to pour out, merging with the snow. He dribbled crimson onto the earth.

Again and again we met, our battle now separate from the others. We were raging, we were one. We would kill each other or die trying.