//------------------------------// // "Arc1: Mitm" Ch3 The Forlorn cave // Story: The String of Fate // by Omior Falroc //------------------------------// Vigil was suspicious at Omior’s willingness to help, but appreciated such an honorable oath. They had begun their search of the dense foliage, carefully following the tracks. They reached a cave by the time night started to fall. At the edge of it was where the tracks had just stopped, as if they just simply vanished. Shattered remnants of wood remained on the ground like a sign of bad omen surrounded the cave. The warrior leaned down and examined where it just stopped. “These hoofprints are only half a hoof. Strange.” “What do you think could have caused such a thing?” Vigil had lost a bit of his nerve since the new addition of Omior. To put it simply, he was having thoughts left and right of what the warrior might do if he were off guard. Omior stood back up and brushed off the dust from his leggings. “I’ve no idea what’s caused it, but we’ll have to investigate some other time; it’s getting dark and fogs rolling in.” Vigil noticed now that indeed some fog was surrounding them from the dark forestry in which they were in. “Let’s get out of here before the animals in this forest decide to go out for a late night snack.” Vigil muttered as he watched the fog roll in a bit more speedily. He couldn’t quite place it but the fog seemed off. “Agreed. Let us be off then.” The warrior and the unicorn pony both started on their way, hoping to be rid of the frighteningly strange forest and its dangerous inhabitants. They walked in a straight line, following to where the path should have been. They eventually broke free from the blinding fog and looked on in confusion. The cave was in front of them instead of behind them. Omior spoke up in confusion. “Are you sure of your directions?” “Of course I am. Would you rather try it?” Vigil growled a bit more forcefully than he meant. Omior smiled a small amount to himself as he spoke up, “with pleasure.” This went on for about twenty minutes of rinse and repeat as Omior and Vigil looked for the exit. After the eighteenth time, they ended up back to the cave from the fog Omior sighed. “Well it looks like we may be more exhausted than we realized. We don’t seem to have a choice but to rest in the cave until the fog clears.” Vigil grunted out an, “I’m not sleeping in there.” Omior shrugged as he walked into the rather empty cave, “Suit yourself, sleep out there then.” “Fine, I will.” Vigil heard a loud snapping from behind him and he shrieked out a slightly higher yelp than it should have been as he galloped a bit too fast to the cave. ______________________________________________________________________________ The sound of screams of surprise and anger reverberated in the cave as Omior shot awake. Anxiously, his head jerked towards the sound of the yell in time to see Vigil’s outline disappear around a corner. “You son of a-” The green unicorn managed to yell out before getting out of earshot. Omior was already up and chasing after the quickly fading echoes, sword bouncing against his sides the entire way. The echoes finally stopped as Omior turned toward a dead end. He cursed silently as he scanned the wall. He noticed a small crevice near the corner between the two edges of the wall. “Of course.” Quickly, he peered through the crack, what his eyes beheld upon the other side made him do a double take before grabbing his sword, bringing it to the ready. A monster, not just any monster, but a creature of legend. It appeared to be a giant eyeball with tendrils protruding from the back of its horribly misshapen body. Slashes and protrusions all over the beasts mighty visage told the warrior this creature has been in more than just a few battles. It’s skin was scaly and melted, the color of a dull and very dirty brown. It screeched as it opened its maw, showing a multitude of overly-sharpened teeth, two tongues. Omior tensed up as he slowly drew his sword-and a few bones dripping wet as signs of a fresh meal. He relaxed a little bit as he saw that his new acquaintance hadn’t been the fresh meal. No, the pony lay unconscious under a tendril that laid atop his body. “A Vile beast who hunts for flesh of the innocent, should not be a vile beast to exist at all.” Omior stepped into the vision of the beast, its jaw closed as it stared viciously at the warrior ruining his mealtime. The sound of tearing flesh filled the air as the skin of the back of the creature ripped to allow more tendrils to arise. It shot towards Omior, the warrior forced to jump to his right in hopes of escaping the majority of the damage. His leg was hit just under the knee, cutting him a small amount. The blood flowed freely as he tucked into a roll and landed onto his feet. He pulled his sword back into the ready. The creature already sent another tendril towards him, to which he side stepped to his left, slashing the tendril as it slammed against the ground. The cut was clean as the creature pulled the stump back, the part of the tentacle that was severed began to sizzle and burn away as it violently thrashed on the ground. Within seconds it was already a pool of bubbling blood, smoke rising from the pool. The warrior smiled as the gears in his head began to work. This creature would be an easier fight than he thought. The sound of ripping flesh reverberated once again as the tentacle that was partially severed was cut off by the beast itself who let it fall to the ground, the place where it violently jumped out of the skin had been sealed. Three more tendrils were shot towards Omior who reacted; The first tentacle was parried and the second one Omior blocked, both of them went back immediately to avoid severing. But the third tendril directly hit the warrior in his left arm, leaving a fairly deep gash that showed a small amount of white bone. Omior used his sword to rip a piece of his shirt off to tie around the wound as he ran behind a rock. He tied it as fast as he could and just as he finished, the rock behind him exploded in a flurry of stone, dirt, and flesh of a tendril that broke it. It safely landed next to Omior who immediately cut it off at the end, leaving yet another body part to sizzle away from the giant eyeball monster. It screeched out in agony as it removed a second of its mighty limbs, it had released Vigil’s body from its grasp as it went into a rage, flinging its tendrils and big rocks at Omior repeatedly without end. The Monster’s eye started glowing red as its rage grew, throwing itself at Omior, who continued to dodge its strikes. Omior knew he couldn't keep it up for long so he kept thinking as he looked for a way out of the situation. He needed something now. Vigil groaned as he turned his body. Omior yelled out as his left leg was hit with another light cut from another tendril. But it was to no avail; Vigil wasn’t even registering what was going on being only half conscious. A stray rock from the mighty behemoth of a monster missed Omior and rebounded off the rocks and hit Vigil in the back. He yelped in discomfort and pain as he shot up. Once he saw what was happening he yelled out. “Omior!” He registered just what was attacking him a half a second afterwards and his eyes grew angry as he saw a rather sizable pile of bones to his left. He broke into full gallop towards the giant beast as he angrily sped towards what most certainly would be his doom. “Damn you to the depths of Tartarus!” He yelled as he jumped and turned in air, kicking out with his hind legs. It caught the creature in a rather soft part of his body and it caved in. Vigil’s left hind hoof got caught and he attempted to free it as the beast reared its head forward. It caused the wound to open a bit more but took Vigil with it as it flailed its massive body in an attempt to get him off. The tendrils stopped coming towards Omior and he took the opportunity to run towards the behemoth-like monster, sword aimed to damage its target. The beast’s focus landed on the warrior as he was in mid flight, sword slinging in a downward arc straight for the creatures one and only, very much glowing, eyeball. The creature’s eye was easily severed in half as the sword cut through it like butter, covering Omior in a strange goo and a rather sizable chunk of vein. The creature thrashed even more, slamming its body into the walls as Omior ran to free his small four legged friend. The creature was just about to slam his mighty visage forward in an attempt to kill Omior where he last stood, but only hit rocks as it harmlessly flailed. Omior grabbed Vigil by the forelegs and with a strong tug, freed him of his prison.“Let us escape while we still have our lives.” He pointed towards the entrance to the monster’s den. “Agreed.” Was all Vigil returned as Omior leaned on him, trying to get out as fast as they could with the warrior being wounded. “Dammit, can’t you go faster?” Vigil complained as Omior wormed his body through the entrance of the den. “You try and move faster when you’re as hurt as me.” He rebutted angrily. His arm cried out for him to stop moving altogether, but that wasn’t going to happen. Not yet. “I’m not sure how you could even move when you have chunks of yourself missing.” The unicorn looked down for a second before talking again. “Let’s just get out of here....”