Zach and Belladonna: The Raging Behemoth

Back to Mount Hakobe, and as Belladonna looked upon its frigid, ice-capped, rugged peaks, a sense of nostalgia mixed with unease flowed through her mind. For quite a while, she had called this place home, but she had slammed shut that chapter of her life so hard that opening that door was always difficult to do. And yet, here she was, drawn by the mission she had accepted. She could have turned it down, but she didn't. It seemed there were those who needed help, and perhaps to prove that she was not as dark a mage as her classification, she would try to help in any way she could. She had noticed, on the contrary, that even though she managed to get her missions done satisfactorily, she always left a signature of calamity behind, a mark that was slowly building up her reputation into something she didn't want. Still, she was always drawn to the cause, like a moth to the flame, to make Earthland a better place, whether its inhabitants wanted it or not.

The cold was hardly a bother to her; her magic saw to it that she was well protected against it. And so, unlike the average person who covered themselves and insulated their bodies securely, Belladonna strode towards the indicated settlement, wearing nothing that was suited to the weather. With her usual outfit, she ought to have been frozen to a popsicle, if she tried making her way into the unrelenting cold, but she sauntered indifferently past anyone who was trying to make an early start outside. As expected, they stared at her like their eyes would pop out, and she usually responded with a stoic nod, which due to the utter astonishment of the mountain people, could not be replied. Eventually, she found herself at the town the mission briefings spoke of, and she slowed to a halt.

The place looked like a natural disaster had passed through it, a violent, aggrieved maelstrom that had targeted its malice at this geographical location. She resisted the urge to use the Left Eye of the Mind to see what had caused this carnage, but she figured that sooner or later, she would have to. First, she wanted to get a picture from the local townspeople on what this creature was after. Then, she would use her power, and come to her conclusions. And she would find who was responsible and ensure that justice was done.

Without using her powers, she was aware that quite a number of people had stopped to stare at her, first of all because of her "impractical" clothing, and secondly because she was definitely a stranger in these parts. She walked up to one of them, a woman of about her age, and smiled at her. "Greetings. I'm here to take care of your monster problem..."

The greeting was not reciprocated, but the woman simply pointed at a circular building, which had managed to survive the onslaught. From the wisps of smoke that rose from above the walls, there was a fire going on inside. She could sense that someone was already there, a male, and he was, like herself, not a native of these parts. Belladonna nodded a thanks to the woman, remembering how the dwellers of Mount Hakobe were just as friendly as their alpine climate. And as she approached the stone house, she was aware that many of the villagers were gathering to watch. They seemed rather wary of foreigners, and she hoped that it was not because of her last visit to Mount Hakobe. If she remembered correctly, the village she exterminated was not too far from here. But so far, if the villagers here knew she was responsible, or she was even from a dark guild, they were wise not to approach her about it. She walked up to the building and entered.

The young man she set her eyes on, sitting close to the fire, was even more of a sight than herself. It appeared that some parts of his body were made of crystal, and his eyes seemed to have a peculiar glow to them. Belladonna slowly smiled broadly, not because she recognized him, or wanted to be extra cordial; truth be told, she was cordial to everyone she met for the first time (often even in combat). It was more because this man looked interesting, and her mind was already running through various theories on how important the crystals were to his functioning. Maybe they even had a thing to do with his magic. Well, she would find out sooner or later, and while she hoped that she might even get to study him, that probably was asking for too much. She recalled his name was Zachariah, from the mission details.

"Pretty fine day to go monster hunting," she said in her breathy voice as she approached him. "Zachariah, right? I'm Belladonna. Pleased to meet you."

With no small amount of humor (though she did not burst out laughing), Belladonna noted that she had somehow caught the man off guard, what with the way he looked at her... and did his jaw just drop? She wasn't too surprised, though; most people found it unthinkable that she could waltz about in such cold weather with such 'un-protective' garb. Even if she would not admit it, there was a part of her that liked seeing the reactions she evoked from people with her looks. Anyway, he seemed friendly enough, so far. That was a good start in their interaction.

"Zach... I can work with that," she said, as she sat beside him and folded her legs.

Zach was right, she had found his crystalline parts rather intriguing, and while he gave an explanation of sorts, it did little to explain to Belladonna why his body was crystal in some places. It did tell her how he got his scar, however, which interestingly, had assumed a lightning bolt shape. Until he explained further, or she got to know him better enough to ask him probing questions, she would have to draw her own assumptions. Most likely, the arcane bolt of lightning would have nearly killed him, injuring his body extensively, and in order to survive, someone had, or (less likely and more impressively), he had himself used the crystal to heal and augment his form. Perhaps in the course of the day, and the mission, she would get to know more about how he used his magic.

Her eyes drifted from Zach to the flames that fed on the brushwood in the center of the room, as he sat back down. From his words, he wanted to identify first what kind of monster they were up against. This was a fresh breath of air, when compared to many young people who would rather run in, shooting from the hip and playing it by ear. He seemed to have an analytical mind, and that implied that he thought things through before carrying them out. That meant that they could both come up with a workable plan, before they headed out into the unknown. She agreed with him that the creature could not be a bear; its level of destruction was much too large for a single carnivore, no matter how heavy or rabid it was... unless it was not a normal single carnivore.

"Yeah, couldn't have been a bear," she agreed. "The destruction is much too... massive. I would have considered a natural disaster, but it would have torn through the forest to get here. More like something came over here and dropped the bomb."

Zach suggested that the mage duo look for the abode of the beast. "Hmmm, that's a good idea, Zach, but it leaves us with pros and cons. Taking the fight to the beast will give us the element of surprise, but we might end up fighting on its turf. Still, that doesn't deter me."

She pulled her glasses off her face. "We might not have any problems with tracking the monster responsible. Unless something is keen on hiding its tracks with very powerful magic, that shouldn't be a problem for me. It's still morning, so we might be able to get to the end of this before evening, unless something else takes our time."

She nibbled at a temple tip of her eyeglasses pensively. "There's something about this mission," she said. "If the evidence of our beast is anything to go by, when compared with how recently it happened, I want to believe that the villagers may have angered our beast. Obviously, the destruction started at a certain time, and prior to that, the villagers seemed to be at peace with whatever powers were in charge of the forest. But now, that has changed."

She turned to look at Zach, her eyes questioning. "If we're dealing with a guardian of nature, unless we find a way to completely exorcise it from these parts, killing it will probably only be a very temporary solution. A more permanent solution would then be necessary to ensure that it doesn't return with more malice. So, in the absence of exorcism tools, we might want to appease it. However, I've never known appeasing to be really palatable to many humans."

She rose to her feet, her eyes still searching his face. "So, Zach, are you up for appeasement or exorcism?"

Zach was up for taking the fight to whatever beast it was that was responsible for ravaging the village. It was the best course of action, because, as he had rightly stated, there was bound to be collateral damage in the form of villagers, not to mention what was left of the buildings that would be further decimated in their battle with the beast. From the way Zach described his magic, it involved light. His crystalline parts probably had a way of channeling or perhaps even generating light, and he also mentioned something about healing, while fingering a strange looking dagger. It was most likely a battle accessory, or perhaps it was connected to his magic. Whatever it was, Belladonna was sure she would have enough of a chance to witness it in action; it was almost absolute that there would be a skirmish before the day was done.

Belladonna resisted the urge to sigh wistfully and shake her head, when Zach considered the fact that the villagers may have been somehow responsible for their dilemma. Light mages always looked for the best in people; someone like herself, instinctively tended to view people as firstly having evil motives. At least, unlike many of the light mages out there, he was not so naive as to live in denial and assume that every suffering person was a good soul in need of salvation. Most likely, someone, in an act of selfishness, had desecrated something of great importance to the irate spirit, and its ire had been kindled.

"Well, either way," she replied, "it will end in a fight. We could keep pummeling the spirit involved, till it's tired and leaves for less truculent pasture, or it will wait, if it's wise, till we're gone. Then, it will return and continue its mess. I think if we get a chance at getting it to talk to us, we should try to find out what caused its disturbance, and how to resolve it. We do that, and the spirit leaves. The problem will be permanently solved."

Springing spryly to her feet, she followed Zach out into the soft morning sun, noting mentally that the wood fire felt more comfortable to be around, even though she was quite resistant to the elements. Inasmuch as this was Mount Hakobe, not everything was covered in a thick layer of snow. There were still many muddy patches, some of which were the result of the raging beast's violent incursion into the village. She looked at the tracks, half expecting to be unable to identify them as those of a regular animal. She wasn't disappointed. They looked quite unlike what an average animal, or even a much larger variant of an average animal, would leave behind. Her partner suggested that they start their work from the tracks, which was the logical thing to do. "Yes, this is the perfect starting spot." Crouching beside Zach as he placed a hand on one of the footprints, she adjusted her glasses and commented:

"The tracks are relatively fresh. The one you just touched was made at dawn, just before the rising of the sun. This seems to be the spot where the monster decided to call it a night and went on its merry way."

She straightened up. "Unless our monster is a shape shifter, we could follow its tracks right into its arms. And even if it could change its form, I think I've seen enough to be set on its trail." She did not have to rely on her psychic powers, especially her Left Eye of the Mind, to follow the tracks, but she was sure it would come in handy if a confusing aspect came up while they were hunting down the beast.

"Judging from its size, at least we can rest easy that it won't be taking us by surprise with a concealed attack; it's much to big to be ignored, if the mayhem says anything about how big it is. The downside is that a creature capable of this havoc is best attacked from a distance. I'm not sure either of us would want it to lay a hand, or paw, or whatever it has, on us."

Belladonna began following the tracks without using her magic, as they were large enough and easy to trail. "Let's go, Zach. The plan is: talk first and blast later, right? Or should we just skip to the blast part?"

Belladonna shook her head gently when Zach suggested restraining the beast. She didn't give a reply, because one wasn't needed; Zach himself mused at its improbability. And he was right. With its sheer size and rampaging power, it would take much more than anything Belladonna could muster to hold such an irate creature down. She knew nothing about his magic, but from the way he had described it: "travel and combat", it was likely going to be more suited at blasting it, rather than holding it down. Come to think of it, she might have a chance at immobilizing it with her magic, but she was not sure how a creature such as itself would react to poisons. When the time came, which was very likely soon, they would both find out.

Following the tracks left behind by the massive village shredding monster proved to be just as easy as she had anticipated. She chuckled at his joke of not having what it took to be a good hunter. Wait, it was a joke, right? "You'd be surprised how quite a number of prey are a lot more dangerous than their hunters. I suppose it's all about the mindset, though. For as long as the prey fears the predator, they remain at their mercy. However, when the prey attains a strength of body and will, or realizes it is strong enough to turn the tables, then the hunter has need to be afraid. Quite frankly though, as far as this mission is concerned, I can't tell which category we fall into."

Zach was right; the creature they were after was most likely not going to rely on shape-shifting to surprise them. And then, a thought occurred to her. "Indeed, Zach. I doubt we should be worried about it trying to deceive us by changing its form, like they always do in the folk lores. I have a little concern, though: where had the monster been all this while, prior to its being incensed? If it dwelt here in bodily form, I suppose someone should have come in contact with proofs of its existence, though that idea may be moot, what with the extent of uninhabited land on this mountain... and by uninhabited, I mean by humans."

Just as she was about to mention what she was trying to infer, she noticed that the tracks led into a clearing of sorts. Actually, it was more of a plain, that stood between the village and the forest from whence the beast had come. And it looked like a very good arena for a showdown. Already, her Right Eye of the Mind informed her of the unnervingly large amount of spirits that roamed in the area. They seemed to be more confined to the forest regions, but they were beginning to venture forward towards the mage duo.

"Spirits. Huh. Whatever disturbance the villagers must have caused to summon the village smasher seems to have riled up a lot more than they know. These spirits are clearly angry at something; I think it's quite obvious what that is, but we're the next best thing they can lay their hands on."

She watched Zach with interest as he conjured a blade, which he wielded alongside the dagger he had been holding all this while. Perhaps Requip was one of his magic types, or something like a Holder type, that relied on items. Anyway, like he had said, things were starting to get pretty interesting, and Belladonna was convinced that as far as getting a glimpse of the other's magic was concerned, both of them would be satisfied. However, what was more important was getting out of this alive.

"We might want to save our big guns for later; these guys may be a nuisance, but they're not worth expending all our energy on. They don't seem tough, and certainly not the one we're after." She smiled, a strange grin which looked excited and feral quite at the same time. "I bet that if we do a really good number on these guys, maybe our big friend might just show up and spare us the hike into the forest."

As she concluded her words, one of the spirits suddenly broke into a crazed run, like it was both staggering and sprinting at the same time, and somehow managing to move swiftly without falling down. Behind it followed two specters, floating and wailing shrilly. Belladonna shrugged and drew back an arm, waiting for the spirit to get close enough before she threw a solid punch into its torso. The spirit was thrust back and knocked to the ground, and the specters pressed forward. As her arm withdrew, she aimed a kick at the first specter, intending to disallow it from catching her off-guard. To her surprise, her leg went cleanly through the wraith, which was obviously not bothered by her physical antics.

"Wha-? Intangible? Then how do they attack...?"

The specter closer to her extended an arm, a clawed appendage that glowed with ethereal energy. Nobody had to tell her that it would be unsafe to let it connect with her, so she twisted her body and avoided the claws by a mere inches. Her jacket was not so lucky, though, as the attack left three ugly gashes in the fabric.

"Why you little...!"

She noticed that more specters and spirits were converging on her position, meaning to overwhelm her with their sheer numbers. As it were, the spirits let the specters go first, noticing that Belladonna had relied on corporeal strikes, which were of no effect on the latter. "Smart creepy devils..." she thought with no little amount of amusement at the fact that the ghosts were utilizing strategies in battle. She had to do something about them quickly, though, otherwise, she would soon find nothing funny about the whole ordeal.

She drew in a deep breath, then like a creature of legend, poured out bright purple smoke that stayed close to the ground and swirled around her form. Within, she folded her arms and smiled smugly at the ghosts that still tried to swarm her. Of course, they did not seem to care about the cloud until they rushed into it. With eerie screams, those unfortunate to get into the cloud were dissolved into nothing.

"If you do need some breathing space, you could retreat over here," she called to Zach. "This gas here is only dangerous to those I don't like," she concluded, still grinning at the ghosts. If they were foolish enough to charge straight in, well, she would have her work cut out for her. If they were smarter, she would take the fight out to them.

Belladonna's Consumption cloud proved to be just as effective as she had hoped. The spirits and specters were unable to breach the corrosive defense, and to her unspoken delight, they seemed so intent in their rage to rush in and attack, so that their numbers were swiftly and surely decimated by the purple fog. She had been mildly worried that the ghosts would try to lure her out, but with the way things were going, that fear was unfounded. With the moment of respite afforded her, she could look for Zach and ensure that he, as well, was on top of things.

Zach's magic looked very interesting. It did involve light, as he had mentioned, but what was intriguing was how it seemed to absorb light from the environment and utilize it in offensive techniques. It also seemed that the slender blade in his hands was used to channel the light magic. As she watched, the spirits employed a different ploy against him, opting to attack from beneath. It was quite surprising how these ghosts seemed to adapt to the two mages' battle techniques. That posed a question: were the spirits operating with a hive mind, or were they all just blessed with some sort of after-life intelligence? What was more important now was getting the better of them before the battle dragged on for too long.

She was going to use another technique to aid Zach, when the man proved his versatility in both thinking and combat. "Good moves, Zach," she said, impressed, as he not only took care of a good number of ghosts, but also got himself to her position. Their position now had an advantage: apart from the Consumption that provided a perimeter defense, standing back to back ensured that it would be more difficult for an enemy to attack a blind spot. With such protection in place, both of them could now focus on crowd control...

It would seem that their work was cut out for them, however. Belladonna noticed that between Zach light magic and her Consumption, the ghosts were all but obliterated. She allowed the fog to disperse, and it appeared that the ghosts had already fled, or had been destroyed. With a smirk, she shrugged. "Perhaps both," she replied, in response to his query about the whereabouts of their spectral assailants. "Either way, I believes it favors us. What I'm interested in is whether we should press further into the forests, or duke it out here..."

As if in answer to her question, she suddenly sensed something immense and powerful, like it had appeared close by. And it was moving fast... way too fast! In an instant, a bear like creature barreled through the forest, moving in their direction like a freight train of bone and sinews. Before she could respond, she found Zach tackling her out of harm's way, and she found herself on the ground. She raised an eyebrow, but smiled, nonetheless. He seemed to be the "knight" type of person, always looking out for the well-being of others, and also protecting the ladies. She almost laughed at that thought, because anyone who knew her would understand that she could easily take care of herself. She didn't hold it against him, however; if the roles were reversed, she would probably have gotten him out of harm's way herself. But the idea of him rescuing her still seemed quaint.

She got to her feet as the monster turned on them and roared. It was easily three times her height, with four arms, or forelimbs, and two hind legs. No doubt this was the creature that had wrecked the village. "Yep, that's our vandal, no doubt. Let's hope it doesn't have a bigger brother or something."

Belladonna felt a surge of excitement. This beast was certainly going to pose a threat, what with its speed, size and strength, but that was the thrill of battle: overcoming an adversary that seemed greater than one's self. And that was why she hated "minion battles", sometimes. The spirits and specters were returning, arming themselves with branches and other crude tools of war. While she was not in any way preparing to let herself be taken down by the large spirit bear thing, she found the thought a lot nobler than being dispatched by a bunch of flimsy spirits. And annoyingly, it was more of the truth in real life for someone to be taken down by the unnamed minions, rather than the "boss".

"Let's deal with this interference, shall we?" Belladonna thought to herself, just as the beast raised a paw and brought it down for a massive strike. And Zach transformed. Belladonna mouthed a silent wow, as the giant form of Zach, complete with antlers, runes and a cosmic air (thanks to the miniature planets that revolved around his antlers) grabbed the incoming paw and fended off the attack. So, he was also a Take Over mage. Interesting. And his transformation presented an opportunity that could not be passed off. If she could just cripple the monster's speed, it would be easier for it to be engaged. But the ghosts were still there.

Belladonna clapped her hands together. "Mal Aria!" she cried.

A sudden outburst of blood-red gas exploded from her body, covering a large area of the plain. The ghosts that were brave or stupid enough to venture close to the fight found themselves dissolving away, once again, as the venom ate into their bodies. The big beast which Zach grappled was too powerful to be destroyed by such an attack, but at least, it would discover that visibility would be seriously impaired for the next few minutes, not to mention the damage the gas inflicted on it. But, Belladonna was not done.

With the spirits that were attacking being taken care of by the Mal Aria fog, Belladonna took in a very deep breath, just as the beast was recovering itself.

"Venom Demon Exorcist's Rage!"

A dark purple blast of energy issued from her mouth, catching the beast full in the torso and driving it back some meters. she was sure that those attacks would not take it out, but at least, with its speed and sight affected, both Zach and herself would have more than a fighting chance to take it down.

"My poisons will make it harder for our friend to move about. Clobber him or something, I think. I'll offer support and keep these niggling ghosts off our backs," she called to Zach.

The rest of the spirits that haunted the plain were no match for Belladonna's Mal Aria venom. The specters, which were completely incorporeal, were instantly annihilated by the red fog. As for the more tangible spirits (which had decided to arm themselves with sticks), they fared barely any better, and Belladonna swiftly assisted the ones that still struggled to survive to make it back to the after life promptly. Her corrosive fog inflicted such havoc on the spirits that they were not even given the opportunity to put up a fight. As she dispatched them, Belladonna wondered whether ghosts felt "pain" the same way mortal creatures did. If only she had some capturing device that could restrain ectoplasmic energy, she would have tried her hand at securing one of these spirits for later experiments. Sadly, she did not, and would have to be content with her assumptions, for now.

Having succeeded at dispelling the offending ghosts that were close enough to be a menace, she turned to see just how Zach was faring, and if he required any help. Honestly, she was sure that he would come out on top in his skirmish against the massive spirit creature, unless it had some special trick up its sleeve, or was resistant or immune to her venom. From the way it had reacted to the Mal Aria, it did not seem to be, and since she had seen Zach fend off some of its blows, it would be less of a hassle for him, now that it was handicapped. She was just in time to see Zach plant a spectral hay maker on the beast (well, from where she was standing, that was what it looked like), and even though it definitely caused a dent, the monster was not down for the count. Zach probably realized this too, because he pressed the attack, and treated Belladonna to an impressive display of lights and energy. Belladonna almost clapped, but caught herself, opting for a smirk instead. She didn't want to look too impressed.

Even though she was standing further away from the beast than Zach was, she could tell that his "Shinedown" technique had knocked the shine out of the creature. She began approaching it slowly, unsure as to whether it had been finally vanquished, or was trying to play possum. She was aware that it was still alive, and that meant that it was still a threat. "You might want to be careful around it," she replied. "It might just be acting dead for all we know." It was relieving to see that he had armed himself with his sword once more, but Belladonna knew she would feel safer when the creature's head had been separated from its shoulders. And if somehow, after that, it could still manage to get back up and fight, at least such a thing wasn't expected to happen.

Zach wondered if killing it would end its pain, or just press some unseen timer that would usher it back into their world at a later time, still up for revenge. Belladonna shrugged. "I guess there's only one way to find out. If the villagers call back, I suppose that would mean our beast wasn't totally banished. To that end, perhaps we should do a little searching around when all this is over, to see perhaps if there's some desecrated shrine or something. Almost always, that's what causes some rampaging angry territorial spirit to leave its abode and cause mayhem elsewhere."

Just as Zach was about to deliver the final blow, the spirit beast roared at him, magical energy emanating from its maw. The force of it was strong enough to throw the man backwards, but fortunately for him (and herself, considering all the circumstances), he was neither seriously harmed, nor was there anything close by to take advantage of his disorientation. "Well, fooey!" she said, as the creature struggled to its feet and beat its chest in an obvious sign of defiance. "Looks like its round two for us."

Zach was right about both of them needing to combine their powers to take the monster down. She nodded in response to his suggestion, and considered herself what technique she could best use to take the creature out as soon as possible. When Zach mentioned his plan, Belladonna paused, then shook her head gently.

"You let me worry about restraining it or something. You obviously have a spell in mind that would act as your trump card, right? I don't know how much magic you expended, transforming into Universe Man, but I'd bet it was something. So, here's my idea: I'll carry out the subduing of the beast, and then we hit it at the same time, once I do so." The beast flexed its muscles and charged. "It's still slowed down somewhat. Let's take advantage of that."

So saying, she sprinted towards the creature, hardly waiting for Zach's reply. It was not as though she didn't care for his opinions, but with the beast closing in on them, waiting to hear what he would say might just be the stupidest thing she would do in her life. And it might cost them greatly. As the distance was closed between them, Belladonna gestured. A formula seal appeared on the ground between herself and the monster, but quite closer to it than to herself. Judging by its speed, it would be over the seal and beyond in an instant, and that was why she did not create the seal behind it. Thick, black tentacles, like the appendages of a marine nightmare, burst out from the seal and wrapped themselves tightly around the monsters legs, arms and neck, pulling it backwards and bringing it to a halt... for the moment. There was no questioning that the beast was physically powerful, but her tendrils ought to hold it down for, at the very least, two seconds. Belladonna hoped two seconds would be enough.

"Now!" she yelled.

Belladonna thrust forward her arms, palms facing outwards, towards the creature, and cried, drawing all her energy into the space between her palms: "39th Imprecation Curse: Primeval Schism!"

A powerful burst of psionic energy ruptured forth, plowing into the creature's face. Even though it was large, the force of the Primeval Schism was powerful enough to send it flying. Surely, with this attack, and Zach's "trump card", they would defeat the monster this time.

At least, that was what she hoped.

Belladonna dared say that Zach and herself had some good team chemistry when it came to combat. It was like they knew how to cover each other's bases, and like a well oiled machine, when one part shifted out, the other filled its place fluidly. It was certain that Zach knew how to hold his own in combat. There was nothing more annoying than to create an opening, and watch someone else stumble on it and muck things up. Thankfully, such was not the case here. The specters were little more than an afterthought of a nuisance now, and with her magic blast hitting the spirit animal and leaving it open, she watched Zach take good advantage of the opportunity.

Shielding her eyes with her hands, she couldn't help but peep between her fingers to see just what Zach would do with his colorful display of light. His magic seemed to have the extra advantage of flashing so brightly, causing blindness as a secondary thing to worry about (if you were his enemy). Still, it might be bothersome in the long run if Zach's magic blinded his allies as well. Maybe he had a way to mitigate that, but it wasn't very likely, what with the caveat he gave before the attack.

Quite honestly, it would be quite difficult to tell what the blade did to the creature, but what was obvious was that it lopped off a limb cleanly, leaving little more than a smoldering cauterized stump. "Heh. So much for a 'Lotus Eater'. More like a Lotus cutter or something."

The beast had obviously had more than enough, as it collapsed to the ground. Zach performed the coup de grace, and seemed somewhat reluctant to do it. Belladonna, for her part, watched as he brought the blade down on the creature, with an inscrutable expression on her face. Was the beast the one in the wrong, simply because it wasn't human? If the roles were reversed, and perhaps a monster did something to a human establishment to desecrate it, calling for the humans to invade monster territory, would the humans be right to do so? Sometimes, it seemed "right" and "wrong" were just relative terms, and the person who could complain and grieve and hold a grudge was the one who decided what was good or evil. She shrugged with a soft sigh, and turned away.

"Yeah. It's spirit meat, now."

Still, she did not feel it was over. Rather, something else felt amiss, like this creature was just another piece on the board that was not the king. Glancing back at the corpse, she half expected it to reanimate itself, but it remained on the spot, dead as a dodo for all intents and purposes. It would seem that the threat might come from a totally different, yet related, direction. Interestingly, the ghosts that had pestered them left immediately, a further pointer to the suspicion that something else, that was not the beast, was coming.

There was nothing more to do here; Zach was right. She returned with him to the village, back to the hut in which they had first met. She expected something to pop up in her radar during the return journey, but the entire scenery was still, like the proverbial calm before the storm. And funnily, she was not the only one who had such a premonition. "You feel it too, right? Like something is going to happen?" she replied, as they approached the hut.

Within the small circular structure, she leaned against the wall, watching Zach as he studied the artwork on the wall. Obviously, they told a sort of story, most likely an ancient tradition about the founding of the village, or some similar past story. As she looked at the mural herself, her eyebrows slowly furrowed until she was glaring at the wall, a realization coming to her all of a sudden. She wondered why she had not noticed it before, but then, perhaps she was very interested in the mission at hand, and felt the answers were out there, that she failed to notice that perhaps some of the answers were with them in the room.

She opened her mouth to speak, but noticed that Zach was looking at something quite far off. Her slayer senses granted her superior vision (whether she wore her glasses or not), and she squinted at the trees at the base of the mountain. Then she saw it. One very large tree was pulling itself out of the ground, like that was the normal thing for trees on this side of the universe to do. She glanced at Zach, then back at the large... thing (was it even a plant or an animal?) as it finally pulled itself free.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

Belladonna laughed at herself for quite accurately predicting their current situation in an act of offhanded sarcasm. "Looks like our spirit vandal really had a bigger brother... and this one is probably more destructive than it."

She stepped outside and began walking towards it. "If we wait for it to come here, we risk turning this entire place into one massive carpet. It's best we go over and see what it wants. Who knows, unlike its little buddy, it might be willing to talk... but I wouldn't count on it."

The mural in the round hut came to her memory again, and she was very sure that the walking tree was probably the same, or something similar to what was in the painting on the wall. Now would be a good time to ask Zach if he had any ideas about what the mural was about, before they started another fight that would likely be hotter than the last.

"Say, Zach, you were looking at the painting on the wall, right? Is it me, or was there a tree involved. I'm willing to bet some jewels that there's a connection with that," she pointed at the walking plant, "and this."

OOC:

The walking tree had come to the outskirts of the village, and began to slowly, but surely and systematically lay waste to the village. Zach tried to gain the creature's attention with some attacks. The attacks were successful... in that the creature had now noticed them, and seemed to believe now that smashing them like it had done to the building was the best pastime in a Hakobe blizzard. Zach defended against the creature's physical barrage by using magic barrages of his own, but there was this feeling Belladonna had that whatever chance they had with the spirit beast would not be available with this walking tree. They had to employ a different strategy.

The tree made another attack, and Belladonna saw it in time to use her Void Cicada to avoid the attack, positioning herself just out of harm's way. Zach was not so lucky, as, next thing she knew, he was flying through the air to land some meters away in the snow. She was about to attack the tree to distract it and draw it away from him, when he got up and shuffled around a building. She shook her head slightly, though she had an impressed smile on her lips. This Zach was a lot hardier than he looked (even though he looked quite durable already). It was at that point that Zach came over and mentioned seeing a strange stone in the fire pit of the hut they had just exited to stall the tree. She nodded, the whole thing making sense, or at least sounding like it should. She was not keen on letting Zach go against the creature without a little help, so as he turned to go, she released two spells in tandem: a golden glow to heal his injuries and restore his stamina, and Zach would also realize that his body was about 60% faster than normal. She was also wise enough to apply these boons to herself also.

"Okay. Let's do this."

As Zach went off to face the walking tree house again, Belladonna scooped a handful of sand and ran into the circular hut that housed the fire pit wherein the duo had warmed themselves some time ago. Since it had no roof, it was open to the elements, and the fire within was struggling to survive in the cold of the blizzard. Belladonna dumped the snow in her hands over the ice, extinguishing it with a sputter and a hiss. She reached into the ashy slush and retrieved the stone, a hexagonal block with a symbol on it. It still radiated warmth, but it was not sufficient to burn her hand. And as she picked it, her Left Eye of the Mind was activated, and a series of memories rushed through her mind. She saw a figure steal the stone from a pedestal, though she couldn't make out where exactly, and bring the stone back to the village. Whatever the person's reasons were were unknown, but perhaps it was an act of malice to summon the wrath of the forest against this place. If the stone was returned to its pedestal, perhaps everything would be over.

Clutching the stone firmly, she walked out to meet Zach, holding it forward towards the walking tree house, just as Zach blasted the tree house with a large orange explosion. Smoking and missing some bark and branches, the tree house trudged out of the resultant crater, and stopped short when it saw the stone. Belladonna decided to try something.

"It is this stone you want, right?" she projected telepathically to the tree house, though she also allowed Zach to connect to the telepathic hub, so that he could be aware of all that was going on. The walking tree house did not move; it just stood there, watching the stone intently. It looked like perhaps the tree could be reasoned with. "We both want the same thing: you want to return to your rest, and we want peace."

The walking tree house rustled its leaves, and raised a massive branch. Through her telepathic connection, Belladonna, and Zach heard the tree house's response:

"DESTROY!!!"

It brought down the branch towards them, and Belladonna jumped out of the way, severing her connection with the walking tree house, but keeping hers with Zach maintained. "Looks like we have to return the stone ourselves, and still have this tree house tumbling after us. Judging from the direction whoever was responsible for this came from, I'd say that the pedestal involved lies in the same location as where the tree house came from. Perhaps the same place even; that is quite likely. Anyway, we need to draw it away from the village and back to where it came from. Let's go!"

She dodged around a kicking twig foot, and ran towards where the tree house had come from. Since she was holding the stone, it followed her, ambling after her with a speed surprising for its size. Provided it didn't go throwing things after her, hopefully, she would be able to locate the site of interest soon enough.