Praetorian of Greatness

ROWAN'S glowing hair and immense aura brought a newfound strength to the team. Mute stood up from the ground, where he initially had been buried by tons of undead and dusted his body. He had a look of determination in his face and has decided to get himself together.

His initial fear has recently been replaced with anger, an unending rage born from the desperation to survive and if there was anything Mute was good at, it was surviving, beyond all odds. All his life had been about survival, and none of it was pleasant.

From the moment he stepped on to the surface of the planet, he'd been battling against odds that would rip normal men apart, but he didn't let it put him down. His mother died during his delivery and he barely survived, losing that amount of oxygen rendered him blind, deaf and dumb.

He had to grow up with only his sense of smell and touch, nothing else. He didn't remember much of those days, because he was an empty cocoon! His blindness was later healed by a man who was an Apothecary. That was when he started to learn how to read lips and communicate.

He went through hell at the foster care he was sent to as his dad was never in the picture and yet through all that, he was still standing here! He decided there and then that it would take more than vines and skeletons to make him give up on life. He knew there wasn't anything that he could do that would matter but at least he could go out in defiance.

Rowan turned to them with a smile, his eyes almost god-like. He removed his guns from their hostlers and handed them to both Ash and Mute. The two glanced at him and then nodded, both of them cocking the guns and getting them ready.

He then looked to Kay and fished out a potion from his pocket, tossing it to him. The latter didn't think twice before downing the potion. He smiled and then exhaled. "Ash and Mute, you will be our cover," he began. "I can see the Óró's spiritual form in this state and I can see its survival is tied to the tree that it inhabits currently. There is only one spirit in this forest and it has a limited range, that means we don't have to worry about Felis and the others, if we kill the Óró here and now, there is a high chance they will survive!"

Kay stepped forward glancing at Rowan. "I feel an emotion," he said. "Different from mine, I don't know how to explain it, but I think I can sense that spirit too!" He said.

Rowan nodded. "Cryptids naturally have better perception than normal humans and you downing two potions in succession has raised that sensitivity to the highest, so I think you should be able to sense things from the conceptual, considering that's where these sigils link Cryptids to!" He explained.

Kay nodded, a smirk on his face as streaks of flame began to dance around his folded fist. "So, Ash and Mute you won't be able to catch up to any of us, but do your best to protect yourselves and us. If we are going to kill that thing, we need to move really fast," he said. "Kay, I will create an opening for you! Attack as fast you can once you see it!" He smiled and glanced at the boys. "You were all born to do great things, it is an honor to be your praetorian!"

He picked up the two daggers he'd dropped earlier and then turned to the deep dark forest, by this time, Kay's earlier outburst of fire had reduced and the darkness that once made the forest enigmatic and eerie, descended on it once again. It was like a thick veil of blackness among the silence of the still motionless trees.

"It is time!" Rowan said. "It is time to make the killing move!" He yelled and then the ground cracked beneath his fist as he became a streak of white and gold, dashing through the forest. Just as he did, multiple vines shot out from their position and Kay created an arc of fire that cut everything. Soon enough he dashed into the woods, followed by Ash and Mute.

Rowan cut through trees, chasing the spirit of the Óró that kept jumping from tree to tree as if it was present in every tree in the area. But the One-eyed pirate wasn't a slouch, while he'd been impaled, and was still healing from the wounds, he gently observed the Óró and as of now, he knew its range and how far it could jump from trees to trees.

Rowan slashed his dagger through tree trunks as thick as dining tables for four, each stroke a reluctant but necessary act. He loathed disrupting the delicate balance of the forest, but survival trumped his reverence for nature. Dreams and desires still burned within him, compelling him to choose life over death.

By the time he halted his desperate dash, a swath of felled trees lay behind him, forming a jagged barrier twenty meters deep. Kay, understanding his plan, set the entire area of felled trees on fire, creating a barrier that separated the Óró from other parts of the forest.

He'd successfully managed to coral the Óró, into a certain location. He checked his own arm and realized that his artifact boost was about to come to an end, so he needed to speed things up.

He gripped the dagger tightly and muttered, "Iji!" Instantly, he became a streak of gold, his footsteps sending shockwaves that made the earth tremble. Spotting the spiritual form of the Óró in the distance, Rowan watched it leap from one tree to another. Anticipating its move, he slashed through the adjacent tree, cleaving it in half.

A chilling shriek echoed through the forest. Before the Óró could jump to another tree, a flaming figure surged forward, arms locked around the trunk. Time seemed to freeze for a heartbeat before Kay detonated against the tree, obliterating it into splinters.