Can't Drown These Demons

Being back in Fiore was certainly an odd experience. She'd spent so much of her time trying to get out of the country after swinging in for some kind of work to do alone that she wasn't really..entirely sure of where she wanted to go anymore. That had been one of the positives of being in a guild. She could use the goals she agreed with as an anchoring point in her life. Give herself some kind of direction. With the tattoo on her thigh gone, and no real home for her to return to? She'd started to take to wandering around. That was how she'd wound up back here, in Sakuramori. Initially, she'd planned to just take in the sights of the area. Between the very different aesthetic of the area and the fact that she'd never visited before, it would have been enough to keep her satisfied for the moment.

Then some idiot had tried to quite literally stab her in the back. He was lucky she'd been able to hold back her punch enough to not murder him. Apparently something had possessed him. He'd managed to get out just a name before he scrambled off like a damn coward. Typically, that wouldn't have been enough to send her on her way. But, combining that with the fact that she'd heard the name of the would-be bride that she'd crashed the wedding of being back around, and she couldn't have gotten to the self proclaimed 'sage' fast enough.

So, here she was. Walking through the Sakuramori forest in the middle of the night. One hand in a pocket full of those nonsense looking 'tags' she'd been given, the other idly checking her side every once in a while for the sword she'd pulled out of her poor friend's shoulder when she met him. Of course, the fact that it was night hadn't seemed to be enough of an inconvenience to her work for the universe. There had been a bit of fog rolling around her feet when she'd first entered. Every little bit further she got in, the more and more she found herself walking through a haze.

She wasn't an idiot, however. She could feel it. The way her body was heating up in very slight increments as she moved through the forest. This fog was aiming to intoxicate her. Well, the joke was on it and whatever was creating it. Her own reckless habits meant she had one hell of a tolerance for liquor. Thankfully, she'd been warned about this ahead of time. She'd been told they were the spirits of drunk assholes--albeit in not so many words. So when a handful of faint, flickering lights began to appear at the edges of her vision, Anya merely had to sigh. As each one appeared, she caught a whiff of a different type of alcohol. The first appeared on her Far left, only barely in the field of her vision. Along with it there was a brief whiff of cinnamon. The next appeared on the opposite side, with the scent of licorice root. Two appeared rapidly one after the other in the middle of her field of vision, with the sickly sweet scent of vanilla accompanying the first, as the smell of pure ethanol accompanied the last.

"Really? This is what they were all freaking out about? Pathetic." She muttered as the ones at the edge of her vision began to rocket forward. Alright, so they were fast. Without a second thought, Anya raised one of her feet, scales covering each of her legs as she slammed it down, rocketing forward as she ducked under the two in front of her that had decided to try and fly through her during her little burst of speed. She'd felt it. She only barely managed to slide past all of them. That being said, these things were wisps.

They were going to be more of an annoyance than anything. All she'd need to do was catch them all at once. So as she felt her feet skid against the ground once more, she switched it up. While the scales covering her legs remained, she clasped her hands together loosely before pivoting around with one foot, snapping both hands outwards in opposing directions. This move wasn't going to be the healthiest thing for the forest around her, but that didn't matter. That cone of crimson red and umbral black was wide enough to catch each wisp at once. Anya sighed as they vanished.

"Alright, where's that damn tree.. She mumbled as she started to look around. Ah, there it was. Hidden in a cluster of smaller trees around it was something gnarled and ancient looking. The person who had posted the job said something about these kind of trees being the ones the tags needed put on, that they'd help 'set the boundary' or something. So, Anya dug into her pocket, and smacked one against the trunk of the tree. Truth be told, she'd expected it to fall away the minute she removed her hand. There was no adhesive on the backs of these things. Of course, that was when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She slammed her foot down in a moment of sheer panic, rocketing upwards mere moments before a massive bottle of Sake was slammed into the tree trunk.

Right where her head had been. As she reached the apex of her ascent, Anya leaned into a backflip, her feet 'touching down' on the air as she looked down. The thing that had tried to sneak up on her was carrying a frankly massive bottle of Sake, nearly taller than it stood. It had swung it by the neck of the bottle, which was styled like the old school gourd bottles that were on display in some of the old restaurants in the area.

Since she couldn't really make out many details on its body in contrast to the area around it, that led her to assume that its skin was black as night. Combined with the gnarly horns that sat atop its head, what it was became obvious, even before it tilted its entire upper body back at an unnatural angle, sending a violent waterfall of Sake cascading into its mouth as empty sockets stared up at her location with an unnatural accuracy. This thing was a demon.

Great. Of all the things that this place could have been holding, she couldn't have been lucky enough for it to be some kind of dragon? That would be something a lot easier for her to fight. She wasn't exactly an exorcist, after all. Still, she could see its head track her as she slowly backed away in midair. The scales on her legs faded away. She was going to have to at least subdue this thing long enough to find the other two trees that she could put these tags on.

Or did she? It wasn't like she was alone anymore. She watched the thing slowly lower the bottle it drank from as her feet hit the ground. "You know, while I'd love to sit here and try not to get that drink of yours all over me, I have a job to do. So, demon. How would you like to meet a friend of mine?" She asked as she snapped her fingers. As if on cue, a single arm erupted forth from that unnatural shadow that had been extending behind her this whole time. It was unnervingly massive.

Just the bicep took up the entire width and length of her shadow, even though it also could only barely be discerned in the shadow of night. And yet, the sound of the earth being rent as it slammed its clawed fingers down into the earth was all too obvious. As it pulled itself out of the earth, Viguul became more and more clearly defined as the bioluminescent parts of its body were revealed.

The demon was charging forward at this point, but Anya rolled out of the way just as Viguul reached up and swung a massive clawed hand at the demon. Thanks to how large Viguul was, that demon was going to more than have its hands full. She could hear the sound of a human body getting smacked against the trees, along with the occasional sound of Viguul and the Demon missing swings. A combination of dull thuds and the devastating splintering of wood eventually fading away. She could still feel where Viguul was. A gut feeling that came with the territory of being bound to the creature.

She found the second tree after about three or four minutes of wandering around. Just like the first one, it was gnarled and clearly even more ancient. Smacking the second tree with a seal, she noticed a few of the 'trees' nearby shudder and jiggle unnaturally before falling apart into a handful of mere piles of goop. She could smell just how potent the scent of alcohol coming from the piles were. The tag was only going to disrupt these things for a little bit. And given that there were stories of people being possessed by some of the things in this forest, she decided that taking the chance to book it was the better idea. Especially when she watched the demon bolt straight past her through the clearing.

One of its arms was broken, and it had been covered in caustic burns. Viguul wasn't far behind. So, the pair followed the Demon. If these seals were meant to lock these spirits and this demon into the forest, then there had to be something to these trees. And since two of the three that she'd been told about already had seals? That meant that there was only one left. With that in mind, Anya leapt into the air and took off in flight. Was it much faster? No. But it meant that she could swing around things in the way far more quickly.

That advantage came in handy as she moved through the forest with Viguul. This creature was going through thicker and thicker areas of forest. So much so that her companion was forced to retreat back into her shadow. Whatever was to come in the fight to seal off this last tree, she was going to be doing it alone. Eventually, she found herself touching down on the ground again. There was a trail of both black ichor and sake leaking out onto the ground. Eventually, she found herself in the deepest parts of the forest. This final tree was truly ancient. It looked more akin to stone than wood, and was the most gnarled of any tree that she had seen. She didn't need a sixth sense to know where the demon was now. She could smell it. So when it screeched at her and attempted to dive at her, using its gourd like a hammer?

She simply smashed her fists together before pivoting around, slamming her now dragon scale covered left hand hard into its stomach, a detonation of concussive air sending it flying back into the thick treeline. That wasn't about to be enough and she knew it. That thing had gotten back up from wounds that would have permanently incapacitated any other creature. Getting back out of these woods was going to be a challenge because of this thing. She stood and waited for a moment, staring in the direction the demon had just been launched. Alright. It seemed incapacitated..again. For now. With that in mind, Anya started to turn around..and felt the entire world shift and sway around her. Fuck. She'd been so occupied with her other task that she'd completely forgotten about the haze.

She ground her teeth together as she did her best to keep her balance, one hand coming out to the side to 'grip' the air. It was a good thing that Lacrima she had found gave her the ability to actually touch air like it was something solid, otherwise she'd have fallen right over. Taking a deep breath, she pulled her hands together, and began to chant. Over the course of a few seconds, her hands filled with a liquid that shifted in color as it swirled in her hands. Bringing it up to her lips, she swallowed it. Just like that, her body stopped swaying. With that finished, she walked up to the final tree. Pulling the tag out, she slapped it against the tree. Within that moment, she felt something shift in the area. The tag she had just placed glowed with an ethereal, green light for a moment. Then everything went silent. Alright, good. With that in mind, she slowly took to the sky. Then she smelled it.

"God damn it!" She yelled out as she turned her ascent into a diagonal roll to the left. Good thing, too. That damn bottle sailed past her, the rope that had been wrapped around it trailing behind before suddenly becoming taut and being yanked back into the treeline. This thing was irritating her. She wasn't an exorcist, so she wasn't sure she even could kill it.

But, she'd done her job. If the one who had requested this get done was right, it wouldn't be able to get out of the forest anymore. So with that in mind, she started back towards Sakuramori. Every so often, she had to move out of the way to dodge yet another throw of that gourd. But that was the only thing that was escaping the tree line. The demon itself was letting out more and more howls of frustration. It sounded like it wasn't all that happy about being locked in. Good. That frustrating bastard could be angry all it wanted. Viguul had taken a good few hits from it. That thing clearly hit pretty hard, judging by how her companion had been trying not to put too much weight on one of its back legs. Once she got back to the city proper, she was going to have to have a nice 'talk' with the one who had sent her out here. Would he walk away with any real wounds? No. But he would certainly be more careful about how he phrased requests like this in the future.

She eventually reached the edge of the forest. By this point, the frustrated cries of the demon and its crashing through the forest had long since faded away. It hadn't even tried to throw its gourd at her anymore. If the binding 'ritual' she'd been sent to do really did work, then that was a sign that this thing had given up trying to somehow bring her back into its territory and went back to its wanton drinking. That was fine by her. She had a shower to take. In spite of her best efforts, the smell of liquor was clinging to her like she was the town drunk. Either that demon's bottle had been cracked, or that fog was more akin to real liquor than she thought. Either way, she wasn't too happy about how she was smelling right now. She'd shower first. Then, that damn sage would be giving her the money he'd promised.

Word Count: 2,525
Total Word Count: 2,525
Tags: N/A