Cleansing the Taint - A Nightmare Incarnate (Solo - Kiki)

So this was the Spooky Forest, the location that those Rune Knights had been sent to - and seemingly perished. According to what Kiki could piece together from the notes in the journal and from the lacrima recordings, this was the place that some lost soul had been residing and preying on those who had attempted to give chase to it. But from where the young Joyan was standing it was so peaceful and silent. A little too silent.

"Twelves preserve...what am I getting myself involved in..." she mumbled softly to herself. Yet she couldn't turn back no matter how much her heart was racing. This was just the beginning of her trials in this new country and it was something that she was born for; to cleanse the taints of the forests and preserve nature. It looked scary in the forest, what with the many shadows and the eerie mist that shrouded and blinded her to everything beyond about ten feet before her, but it couldn't be that bad...right? With one last look at the grassy meadows behind her the cat-girl stepped upon the forest path. "May the great one guide me..."

Kiki's first steps into the forest were quite uneventful. Nature was almost silent with gentle whispers as each elemental conversed with one another. However, the Joyan mage would notice that the further she traveled into the haze, the less hushed and more concerned the whispers became until, after about five minutes in, the voices were so hurried that it was clear there was something truly occurring within this natural labyrinth. She could only assume she was getting closer to this taint, whatever it may be. This realisation caused her heart to beat ever so slightly faster; what was it that could worry nature's children so much that they were so alerted by it's presence?

SNAP!

Kiki wheeled around as the noise broke her train of thought, her eyes immediately scanning her surroundings. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw a small rabbit running across the path where she'd just walked and returned to looking in front of her - oblivious to the rabbit being snatched from the air by some unseen force as it was in mid-hop just seconds later.

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Kiki would soon be aware of something not quite right with the part of the forest she was now in as the corpse of the rabbit she'd seen before was dropped a foot before her, causing the Fairy Tail mage to jump back in horror. "WHAT IN THE SEVEN HELLS?!" she hissed, her tail shooting dead straight outwards. Her reaction only served to further worry the elementals as they were now almost screaming in pain. Whatever it was that was tainting the forest was getting closer. Kiki had little time to recover from one of the terrors of the forest when the corpse was suddenly dragged across the floor right in front of her eyes, causing her to back away a few steps in terror. But even as she stepped back a voice spoke above the others. Not a voice of the elements but a voice of reason within herself; this was the work of the taint. She couldn't back away at the first sign of trouble.

"You might have me spooked...but I refuse to back down until I have cleansed this forest of all traces of you..."

It seemed that the taint hadn't yet finished with Kiki. As if the corpse of the rabbit still being dragged around in the immediate vicinity wasn't enough to make her feel uneasy, she could now swear that other things were moving around her. Occasionally she'd hear the snapping of twigs again, except this time it was coming from above her rather than behind. She could occasionally hear stones hitting each other as if someone was throwing them around her, and all the while the voices of the forest continued to get more and more distressed.

Finally she came to a halt and took a deep breath. It was at times like these that she really wished she couldn't hear them. Please be calm... she thought to herself, hoping, praying the forest would hear her. And miraculously it seemed it had as while it certainly wasn't anywhere near silent, the urgency in their voices seemed to be quelled and some were returning to whispers. It probably wouldn't last but at least, for a time, Kiki would be able to keep herself calm- as calm as she could be with all these strange happenings around her.

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

"Get. Out."

Those words caused Kiki's fur to stand on end. Was the taint talking to her? This was incredibly unprecedented, perhaps moreso than anything else that had happened thus far. The words were barely audible but Kiki was certain she'd heard them. But then again perhaps it wasn't the taint. Perhaps it was-

"GET OUT!"

NOPE! That was the taint alright, and it was PISSED! As those words rung in her head, her head soon ended up ringing harder as a rock flew through the air and smashed into the back of her skull, knocking her to the ground and almost knocking her unconscious. Her hands dug into the dirt as she attempted to regain her senses, but it was easier said than done. Right now she was a sitting duck for whatever it was that was assaulting her. Was this how those Rune Knights had felt, before...

No. She couldn't think like that...

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

As Kiki's head stopped spinning she was able to slowly raise it, her eyes slowly beginning to let her brain register what was in front of her - which in truth, wasn't a lot thanks to the mist that was getting progressively thicker with each passing moment. And along with it was the air, getting colder and heavier with each breath she took. The Joyan shook her head, desperately trying to regain her wits. She had to get back to her feet. Slowly, and with some staggering, she pulled herself first to her knees, then up to one knee and finally, and incredibly shakily, to her feet. As her eyes opened and the world finally stopped spinning, Kiki would hear that voice again.

"This is your last warning...begone..."

This time though she could tell where the voice was coming from, although it was with no incredible hearing or whispers from the forest that told her of this. It was the image of a figure just beyond the mist, barely visible but visible nonetheless as if taunting her, daring her to follow. And follow she would.

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

With her head still throbbing from the assault Kiki was struggling to keep her focus on the figure in the mist. Every now and again she would lose sight of the figure, but would soon catch up - or at least get close enough to see it again. As she walked she slowly regained progressively more of her composure and finally, after a few minutes of following this mysterious spectre, she was able to string a sentence together. "Who are you?"

"Begone!" was the immediate reply, the tone unchanged from the last time.

"What have you done to the forest? Why does it cry out at your existence?" she continued, clearly and deliberately ignorant to the warnings being flung at her. Yet still the spectre did not stop, did not speak anything more than simply "Begone!" or words of similar effect. What she could tell however was that she was getting closer. Sure it didn't seem like it, but with each passing moment and with every step the voices of the forest would get ever so slightly louder or show signs of further distress. She'd gotten past the point of fear now - or perhaps the damage to her head was worse than she thought and she had been made numb to it all - and now she was focused on one thing; reaching that spectre.

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Finally it seemed that Kiki was getting somewhere. Although the mist hadn't cleared, the forest itself was beginning to become less dense, a sign that she was beginning to near a clearing. This was something to be reasonably pleased about...except that the spectre, whatever it was, had now quite clearly had enough. With a sudden burst of speed it surged in a full circle around Kiki and launched an assault, crashing into her from behind first to knock her off-balance before wheeling around and tackling her head-on, knocking the wind out of the cat-girl's lungs and sending her flying a good ten feet backwards. She hit the ground with a loud thud that caused the nearby trees to cringe as if they themselves had felt it, leaves falling down over her face. As she lay there the Joyan did the only thing she could think of; she called out to The Great One. "I....I can't..."

In a glare of white light the forest became suddenly tranquil. It was as if all aggression and negativity had been sapped from it. The spectre shrieked, unable to continue its assault as, no matter how hard it tried, it simply couldn't bring itself to continue its overwhelming attack which quite clearly frustrated it.

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HP: 70%/100%
MP: 100%

Keeper of Peace Active Ability activated; 4 posts remaining.

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

As she lay there in the knowledge she was safe for the moment, Kiki began to question more about the goings-on that were here. With a groan she slowly pushed herself to a seated position and looked up into the mist. The figure had calmed now, seemingly deciding that patience was the best course of action, suggesting that this creature - violent as it was - was clearly more intelligent than it first let on.

"You're not native to this forest...where did you come from?" The Joyan girl asked ever-so-slightly shakily as her body continued to recover from her wounds. She placed her hands out in front of her in a prayer-like motion, accumulating a small portion of magical energy before releasing it upon herself, sighing with relief as some of the pain that was attacking her body began to subside. The figure seemed unwilling to speak, simply remaining in place and, from what Kiki could work out, staring at her. Perhaps the figure was asking the same questions about her?

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HP: 80%/100% (160/200)
MP: 85%/100%

Durations
Lineage Active - 3 posts remaining

Cooldowns
Cure - 3 posts remaining

No response. Hardly a surprise really, it's not like the figure had said anything more than for her to leave the forest, or at least to leave it - whatever 'IT' was - alone. Still, Kiki wasn't going to let go that easily. "What happened to the Rune Knights? The ones that came to investigate?" she asked calmly, her voice now calmed...for all of two seconds. In response to that PARTICULAR question the figure seemed to move and suddenly a helmet flew through the air and hit the ground beside Kiki. She glanced at it and grimaced at the sight of the blood that was smeared across it. Why did I ask?

She turned her attention back to the figure, partially to keep an eye on it and partially because looking at the helmet for much longer would probably cause her stomach to empty itself involuntarily. She was no closer to getting any answers and she could tell that time was starting to run out...

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HP: 85%/100% (170/200)
MP: 95%/100%

Durations
Lineage Active - 2 posts remaining.

Cooldowns
Cure - 2 posts remaining.

Finally a thought struck Kiki that hadn't occurred before - probably due to the beatings she was receiving and the fact that no matter how hard she tried, the image of that rabbit corpse was running through her brain. She thought back to the journal that she'd read before she'd entered this forest and remembered what tied this together. "How do you know Samuel Martin?"

An awkward silence fell over the air for a moment as the specter seemed to be taking in what Kiki had said. Unfortunately that silence didn't last long as it then began to writhe violently, shrieking loudly and desperately trying to fight the pacifism that had been placed upon it. Kiki pushed herself to her feet and backed away ever so slightly before stopping. She'd clearly hit on something that had triggered this reaction. "So you know that name. How?" she called out, but this time to no avail. She'd riled the figure up so much that it seemed completely unwilling to listen now. This didn't bode well...

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HP: 170/200
MP: 95/100

Durations
Lineage Active - 1 post remaining

Cooldowns
Cure - 1 post remaining

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

"I TOLD YOU! I WARNED YOU! I TOLD YOU! BEGONE! BEGONE! BEGOOOOOOOOONE!" the creature shrieked as it flung stones around in anger and rage but thankfully, as it was still unable to target anything in particular, none of them struck Kiki as she tried to prepare herself for the next assault. She knew first hand now how powerful this specter was and, perhaps more importantly, how comfortable it was with taking the lives of anything and everything within the forest. If the Fairy Tail mage wasn't careful she'd end up being next on the list of victims to this thing.

She still had time before her pacifism wore off and so Kiki got to work thinking, plotting, coming up with some kind of a strategy to allow her to at least stand her ground against this thing and give herself a way of escape should things get too rough - which was certainly a possible outcome after what had happened just minutes ago.

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HP: 170/200
MP: 95/100

Cooldowns
Lineage - 5 posts remaining

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Signs that the pacifism had worn off came immediately as a rock flew towards her once more and the tree behind her began to groan. The figure was serious now and so Kiki would have to do the same, and fast. First of all she needed to ensure she didn't suffer the same fate she had before - she would have no chance if she lost consciousness afterall. She placed her hands out beside her and closed her eyes, desperately hoping that the figure didn't launch another attack for a second or two as she called out to the elementals around her. Sensing that she was going to fight the taint within the forest, nature immediately replied as a breeze blew through the clearing, surrounding Kiki while the ground released water droplets that would trickle upwards through the air, joining the wind in harmony as they blended and swirled around Kiki's body, just in time as the helmet from before was flung at her, hitting her in the right shoulder. This time though she barely felt it as it flew off to her right into the shrubbery nearby. Her eyes opened in time to see another rock fly at eye level towards her, which she quickly sidestepped to dodge so as to not have her nose shattered from the impact.

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HP: 160/200
MP: 80/100

Durations:
Reflect - 3 posts

Cooldowns:
Lineage - 4 posts

The member 'Kiki' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

She could see it more clearly now. The figure was obviously getting closer as it was getting progressively more riled up. Her plan to get it to come out of its hiding place was working, but she couldn't get complacent. One single, well-aimed shot would give them the opportunity they needed to finish her off and failure was not an option now. Kiki had come this far afterall.

The figure shrieked out once more although this time it was inaudible what was being said, before the tree that had groaned before completely gave way and fell with a crash behind the Joyan mage, causing her to jump to the side so as to avoid the flailing branches and twigs as they settled. The screams of the elementals were ludicrously loud with such damage dealt to forest and it took everything that Kiki had for that brief moment to not cry out with them.


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HP: 160/200
MP: 80/100

Durations:
Reflect - 2 posts

Cooldowns:
Lineage - 3 posts

-Using the Dice Rolls below to have the boss appear now, but fighting won't start until the following post-

Finally the moment that Kiki had been awaiting. The figure finally stepped out of the shroud, but it was far from the ultimate revealing that she had been hoping for; the figure stood at over two meters tall, shrouded now by a black cloak of some description rather than the mist from before and it was impossible to see beyond that cloak. Kiki also noted that this figure seemed to have some kind of tendrils protruding from its cloak, which was perhaps the strongest suggestion that, while human shaped for the most part, this thing was far from being a normal human being. Now that she could see it the Joyan mage was suddenly filled by a feeling of dread as the creature exuded power beyond her own. Perhaps this tactic was a bad idea but it was too late now. She'd come this far with it and no other strategy would suffice. It was all or nothing.

"I know not what you were or whence you came. Whether you are the wife of Samuel Martin or the being that put her into the state she fell into, or whether you are something else entirely is of no concern to me. But while you exist this forest will continue to suffer. For that alone I must put you down." Kiki spoke as calmly as she could. Her words were met unsurprisingly by a loud screech.


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HP: 170/200
MP: 90/100

Durations:
Reflect - 1 post

Cooldowns:
Lineage - 2 posts