CHPT 388: Unseen for Similarity.....

Elves. The powerful and enduring Wild Elves of the Jungle Tangents. In the dark cave full of each Elves massacred remains, their unique features went unseen. And Claude's fear and confusion became more palpable by the second.

He stood in the darkness, unmoving as the smells of blood swelled and poured from the woman on the wall. His world suddenly spun on it's head-- if only partially. Even so.

"Ma--.... Malogrim....." She spoke the word again. It flowed from her lips like a ghost. Ethereal and ominous as it fell on his ears and ran along his exposed skin with cold fingers.

Every time she said the word, it seemed to hit home harder-- as if he was understanding it's meaning more by the second. He suddenly wondered if this was the nature of Elven languages.

The thought simmered in his cluttered mind for a moment longer before the Elven woman moved to speak again only for her words to get caught on the way out and transform into a gurgling miasma of blood that died her lips and chin in shining red.

The sick coughing fit continued for a moment longer before Claude broke through his chassis of fear and moved without thinking. No time to consider his everchanging ideals or the implications his actions placed on him as a Druid and Night Running Shifter.

As he approached, he found his eyes panning down to her midsection where her fur and pelt armor faded and revealed her toned stomach-- marred by the broad-sword puncturing and holding her to the wall. Blood spilled and died her pelted skirt to a reddened black of matted fur and leathers.

Smaller swords stapled her arms and legs at the wrist and ankle which ended in foul smelling stumps.

Claude grunted in discomfort as he studied her, and she studied him.

"...MarrowBast...." The Elven woman whispered as she watched him, dripping blood on the cold cave floor beneath them.

Claude's similarly elven ears twitched at the word as it twisted and molded itself into something he understood.

"Wolf..?" He whispered.

The Elves eyes widened suddenly, "You... you know the Elven tongue, wolf?"

Her words came out soft and pained, sounded accented with both parts Spanish, French and something northern to create a way of words that felt otherworldly.

Everything around him felt otherworldly.

He moved to speak only for her to begin coughing blood once more. He was amazed she was even alive. The bodies surrounding them had been dead for a day's length at least.

His throat closed up at the thought of sitting hung up by a sword as he was forced to view the corpses of his family in the dark confines of the mountainous cave.

Her kids were among the corpses behind them. A possibility. Part of him was horrified-- the other less vocal half wondered in contempt at the world, what else happened in Tangents? What else other than war and blood-soaked misfortune?

He'd played a part just like anyone else. And they wouldn't always be mindless monsters fiending for his life. No, far from it actually. As he grew closer to the Gold Rank, it would only become less likely. More complex.

Even so, that didn't mean torture of this magnitude would ever sit correctly in his mind. Such a sight was beyond personal. It was sick-- deranged. Enraging.

Based on Aeron's Journal-- Rory Legrand's grandiose tales of slaughter and Ronin's darkened view on these pockets of monstrous worlds, torture could easily find a home here.

But, that didn't mean solace was an impossible option. Not between Monster and Man. Or Monster and Monster.

Whatever the Elven woman was saying had fallen on deaf ears in the midst of his thoughts. He'd only noticed her lips moving as he took another step closer and assumed his fighting stance.

"Wh-- what are you--"

"Try not to move." Claude mumbled before he lunged at the wall she was stuck to and thrust forward with his spears.

Instead of a massive shockwave of impact rippling through the cave like an earthquake happening, the precise and quick stab went almost unnoticed in the silence. The Aura-Shrouded blades of his short-spears sunk into the cold weathered rock with ease, cutting deep and leaving spirals of steam spilling from the wall beside the Elven woman.

As he removed the blades from the wall, he stepped to the side, allowing Gil to step forward.

The Elven woman watched in half awake wonder as the hybrid hell-slaying beast opened it's massive jaws and spit a ball of green fire at the wall near her.

The fire splashed against the wall, green and bright as the stars that littered the skies outside. The flames danced against the walls surface beside the Elven woman's midsection, flickering and flowing as they seeped into the holes in the wall made by Claude's spear.

He waited a moment, closing his eyes and sitting in the darkness until tiny flecks of green came to life in the distance. In an instant he reached for them, placing his hand against the cold wall. The green flames that still burned enveloped his palm and nipped at his fingers.

The heat was welcoming. Natural-- full of life. Much like the energy within the wall. He grabbed for it with his Element and pulled it to the surface.

FWSHSHHS!

Vines and thick snake-like roots ripped through the wall. He began Wood-Weaving immediately, causing the nature that spilled through the wall to move like limbs. Tiny vines twisted around and ripped the daggers from her legs and arms while thicker vines wrapped around her midsection and the blade puncturing it.

As she fell from the wall, he caught her and laid her against the floor on her side. Her skin was deadly cold. Her face gaunt and deprived of fluids.

Her eyes wandered in the darkness, teary and full of pain.

He wanted to get her mind off the horrors around her, but he needed answers.

"Who did this to you?" As he asked, he soaked up the natural energy from the vines and roots surrounding her with the Druidic Markings on his arm before sending it back in a bright healing wave.

FWWM!

The magic hummed as it soaked into the Elven woman. Clarity brightened her eyes as her wounds closed-- if only by the smallest margin. Death still loomed behind her slitted green irises.

"Who did this?" He asked again.

"A..... a young one--... a child of the Aether.... but he was wrong.... he was like Malogrim...." She shivered as if a memory forced it's way into her mind.

The word hit him harder than before. Even if the Elven language wasn't slowly deciphering itself in his brain the more he heard it, he would've guessed as such anyway. But one thing that suprised him was her use of the phrase, a child of the Aether.

The Aether. It was the Elves source of power. It's what made them so horrifying. Not quite an Element, not quite it's own form of magic, and not exactly a separate plane of existence, but somehow all three at the same time. A deadly chaotic force that they could bend seemingly on instinct.

"An Elf did this....?"

But she still referenced something that raised his hackles as if a bolt of lightning were ready to strike overhead, "Malogrim. It meant Demons."

He sent another healing wave, watching her skin brighten in the shadows.

She coughed, "Y-Yes!.... Demon-- but he was not..... he was young--- a child of the Aether, yes. But also a child of another. His eyes were so sad.... so sad-- like my babies.... he was sad-- but he killed them!" She roared in a pained whisper.

"Who, What was his name?" Claude asked urgently. He no longer even knew what he was searching for. An Elf similar to a Demon but not a Demon. Seemingly young and disconnected from all the problems that had surrounded him in the Vada District.... but strong enough to slay a Tangent full of Wild Elves. And somehow able to enter and exit on his own volition.

Her eyes moved to roam again. Claude pulled her face to meet his until the steam that spilled from his snout turned to glistening beads of water on her nose.

"Focus. Please. Tell me who is he. Why did he do this?"

"No name...." The Elven woman said as her eyes watered. They peered into his own, but he could tell they were viewing a world different from the one they currently shared.

She was seeing it all again.

"N-No name..... mad like.... like Malogrim..... No name. No face. Only a hand and eyes.... so sad-- so young.... a tortured soul hardened by a twisted mind... the beautiful Aether hung around him like a storm of poison and decay...."

Claude pushed another healing wave into her, the pack of Canine beasts now surrounding them and seated in silence.

"How did he get in? How did he enter your world and leave without taking your life?"

"....his blades were so cold-- so sharp. They seemed to cut through the world itself....." She mumbled incoherently.

Unsure of whether she was answering his question or not, Claude asked again.

She spoke of his blades once more.

Then she coughed up another mouthful of blood.

"[Claude....]" Arne started.

He didn't need to finish. Claude knew she was too far gone. Her blood was pooling beneath his knee's as they pressed into the cold hard earth.

"For what it's worth.... I'm sorry this happened to you." Claude said in his deepened guttural tone.

The Elven woman suddenly seemed to darken. As if all the magic he poured into her began to leak like the blood from her wounds, "I will see my people again. The Aether welcomes me all the same... and grows within you...."

Claude fought the urge to look away as she faded.

Tears fell from her eyes, glimmering like verdant stars under the glow of his gaze.

"I can see it around you... like the boy, yes. A child of The Aether-- but also another. I see it in you MarrowBast... not a storm of poison-- but a man made of a thousand monsters....a hundred heads and a million angers....."

"....."

"Maybe I'll see you in the Aether, MarrowBast...."

Claude nodded along, "Maybe."

"Yes..... someday. Someday I may see you both..." She whispered. Only after she finished speaking, there was no inhale... no movement.

Claude sighed in the silence and closed her eyes. As he moved to set her down, he found himself looking at more than just her. Maris in the village. Chad and Ansel in the forest. Brenda in the valley. Ursula after the HellBreeder.

The thought was split as Gil raised his snout to the ceiling and let out a bellowing howl. The others joined in after, causing the somber hybrid tune to bounce off the walls and echo from the mountain loud enough to be heard throughout the entire tangent.

DING!

[Tangent Complete! The Wild Elven Chief-Huntress has been slain! Collect the loot you've earned and exit.]

[Rewards for completion: 1500 EXP]

[+2 Stat Points]

[21 Stat Points Available.]

As he looked over his System screen and watched all manner of weaponry rise from the corpses of the Elven mother's family, he found a sickened feeling rise from the pits of his stomach. The sight felt so perverse. As if the world they inhabited was celebrated their deaths and rewarding him for it.

Even so, what's done was done. And he still had a world outside of troubles waiting for him. A world of even more wonders as well according to whoever massacred them in such a way.

He'd rather learn of those wonders being better equipped than before. As for Ursula, Frosty, Gil and The Phantom Wolves. Even if it made him feel sick.

With that being said, he grabbed the loot he could and headed out of the Tangent. He still had his own problems to be wary of.

Maybe such problems had passed though. Maybe it would be early morning outside. Maybe the horrific gaze of the Moon had faded, and a new day was born. More than anything he just wanted to get back to guarding Rollan's home. Where there was less heinous acts and useless death.

Still. As he headed out, he couldn't help but continue to think over the fact that somebody was entering and exiting the Tangent at their own command.

An unknown phenomenon all around the world that he'd only seen once. Four months ago. Back in SkyHaven.

A Tangent wielded and controlled by a Monster that infested his nightmares.

"Dolion...."