In the past week, Runt had faced the fear of death thrice. Every time, that fear sunk deep into his heart, and every nerve in his body reacted to it, giving him the edge he needed to overcome death each time.
Before, the fear of death always came hand in hand with possibility. Hope, a clear chance of somehow overcoming his foe and surviving the encounter. With GP at his back, no matter the odds, he always felt like they could be overcome.
There was no hope this time.
Now a new fear was entrenched in him. This fear wasn't just in his heart, but lined his every bone, weighing each down. This fear made breathing difficult, made thinking painful, and turned every motion into a useless struggle.
(Stay awake, runt!) shouted a young girl's voice in his head.
His eyes fixated on his feet. No, his foot. Everything below the right knee had been torn off, and left on some branch somewhere.
Above him hovered the most powerful channeler his clan had ever seen. A girl one year younger than him, yet already taller than him. She pointed at a tree and some invisible, ungodly force pulled it up into air. And then with a crack, the roots were magically ripped off, turning the tree into one gigantic, hovering, sharpened spike.
The channeler, Kotra, his sister, pointed at him, motioning the massive spike to do the same, and Runt braced himself.
20 minutes earlier:
As much as he tried to relax, Runt just couldn't do it. The forest in the evening had many effects on him. When it was still sunny, it was an ocean of discovery. When the sun was setting it was a gallery of beautiful portraits. When the sun was down but light still radiated from the sky, it was time to relax and reflect on everything he'd seen that day.
Today he couldn't.
"You're sure it's this way?" asked his sister. They had only been walking for an hour and yet Kotra already seemed restless. "There hasn't been any tracks or signs for a while now, right?"
"We've been surrounded by signs this whole time." Runt made no effort to hide the irritation in his voice. "If you think we're on a wild goose chase, you can just go back."
"I don't want to." Of course she didn't. Whenever Runt wanted something, Kotra wanted the opposite. "But how can you tell? I'm not seeing anything."
(The runt is playing detective with the plants.) That was GP's childish and girly voice, simultaneously channeling into both of their heads. (The Color we follow slowly withers away every plant it passes by. Runt is checking each plant for unnatural decay and using it as a trail.)
"Oh, I see." Kotra visibly stiffened whenever she heard GP. "That's pretty clever."
(Isn't it?) Runt irritatingly glanced at the green and gold ball hovering behind his back, GP's current form. For some reason it had grown a spinning flower at its top.
Before long, they reached a massive wall of razored feverbush. It was several feet high and extended dozens of meters across.
"No choice, we have to go around," said Runt, carefully hiding his amazement at the size of the thing.
"Why? I can just move it." Kotra seemed to grab the air in front of her and a blue and white sack at her side began visibly growing green. A portion of the feverbush in front of them began to stir.
"Don't! You know how long it takes for a feverbush to get this big? We'll just walk around."
"But it's faster to just break it down." Kotra's 'grip' wasn't loosening.
(I agree. The longer we take, the more time the Color we're hunting will get ahead of us. The bodyguard should just tear it down.)
"But-"
"Bodyguard...?" said Kotra before twisting her hand like she was turning a knob. A circle of the plant wall about two meters in diameter twisted in front of them, rasping and cracking as it did. Kotra then closed her fist, magically squishing it into a ball, and let it drop to the floor.
"Why?? We could've just walked around!"
"It's just a plant, Runt."
(Yeah, runt.)
Runt was incredulous. "You know you're a plant too, right?"
(Gasp!)
"You're not fooling anyone. And you, Kotra, you're too violent."
"So what? I'm just trying to help you, shorty."
"You're not helping me! And don't call me shorty you titless barbarian."
Anger flared on Kotra's face. She waved at a tree trunk and snatched enough out of it to make a decent hitting stick, when suddenly a gold-and-brown branch sprouted from GP's seed, shaped into a spike, and pointed itself at Kotra's throat.
(Careful, bodyguard. Sister or whatnot, I'll kill anyone who would hurt him.)
GP's childish voice didn't betray any of the bloodlust she'd just shown.
Runt was shocked. "GP, stop it!"
"F-forgive me, your Grace." The strength seemed to disappear from Kotra, and the stick fell to the ground. "I didn't mean to..."
Now should be the time for some awkward silence, but a fourth voice booomed in before the silence could set: "You'll do!"
Suddenly a dark green halo appeared above Kotra's head, with brilliant yellow thorns dotting it.
"The colors of jealousy," boomed the voice above them. "My favorite colors. Yes, you'll do indeed."
Kotra's eyes closed, and the tension disappeared from her head and neck.
Runt blurted out, "What?"
(It's him. How careless of us.)
Kotra jumped and grabbed onto the tree behind her, and then up into the air above Runt, where she stayed there, hovering.
"What's going on?" asked Runt.
(It's Yeo, the Yellow. He's taken control of the bodyguard.)
The branches above them rustled and a giant yellow reptile crawled down from the treetops . It stopped a few feet above Kotra, and seemed to hiss. It's lizard head was frozen, motionless, but it's tail slithered constantly above him. At the tip of the tail was another head, that of a snake.
From it came two simple words: "Kill them."
Ten minutes later:
The giant tree-spike flew towards Runt. From his back, GP's seed glowed and sprouted a gold-and-brown branch to propel him away from it. The massive spike crashed into the tree Runt was just sitting by, thunderously splintering.
Blood trailed from Runt's stub leg as he flew to the safety of some bushes.
(There isn't enough time to heal your leg.) From her seed sprouted what seemed like bark, which wrapped itself under Runt's right knee.
"I know. Grow me a pegleg for now."
(Like the pirates?) GP seemed amused, but Runt could tell it was an act. He could almost feel the fury emanating from her seed.
"She'll find us again soon enough."
(You can't beat her.)
She was right. Kotra's incredibly destructive powers were unheard of in the history of their clan. She could rip apart an entire tree into thousands of pieces, and then use all of the splinters to rain death on everything around her. Runt feared it was only a matter of time before she did.
(Will you give up and just run?)
"She's a brat, but she's my sister. If I leave now, the Color will kill her before his control runs out."
(You don't know that. His control can be indefinite for all we know.)
"I doubt it. If he's anything like you, his energy has to run out sometime. When he does, she'll be safe and he'll be vulnerable. We'll kill him then."
(So you're just going to run around until that happens?)
Pain suddenly shot up his left arm. Before Runt knew it, a stake had stabbed right through his hand and nailed him to the ground.
Kotra was right above him.
(I've got you, b***h!) Another sharpened branch sprouted from GP and lunged right for Kotra's head.
"NO! DON'T DO IT!"
A wooden spear flew out from a nearby tree and deflected GP's jab. Then it stabbed right through GP herself.
(!!!)
"GP!"
Above him, Yeo hissed. "Poor fool. This is what you get for underestimating the Colors. Now you -uk??"
Kotra's voice was both a surprise and a relief. "N-now... Runt!"
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Each of the adults only ever told Kotra the same words.
'You're the strongest.'
'No one here young or old can compare to you.'
'Priestess Ultima reborn.'
'A gift of the gods in our time of need.'
'The village lies on your shoulders.'
'Her Grace will surely choose you.'
Kotra didn't mind it. Sure it could be stiffling, but she liked being praised and relied on. They needed her, she knew. The missions could take weeks, and the loneliness can be painful, but where would they be without her? How would the clan stand a chance against the Colors?
Her brother was different. He changed over the last few years, after she outpaced him and no longer needed his protection. He may not like it, but she was also doing it for him. To keep him alive and safe was how she would repay the years he spent raising her by himself. Then he would go back to the kind and loving brother he used to be, her perfect person. The man she...
And it wasn't as if she needed to fight her battles alone forever. Eventually, her Grace would make the sacred pact with her, and together they would be nigh invincible.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Kotra lay at the base of the tree motionless, a hole in her stomach. Yeo's snake body had been cut off and lay lifelessly a few feet away from her.
"No... no... no...!" Runt was trying to patch up the hole, but every piece of healing bark he tried to apply turned purple and fell away.
(It won't work. Yeo's poison is corrupting my bark, and I don't have enough energy to outpace the spread of the poison.)
"Ok, we'll find some antidote nearby. This is the center of the forest, we can-"
(There exists no natural plant in this world that will help against this poison.)
"Then... what?? What do we do?"
(Isn't that obvious? Let's go home. Nothing can save her now.)
"Don't... DON'T ******** WITH ME! We can't leave her! I can't!"
(There's no point in staying...)
"Wait, I know what to do! I can... I can make Kotra your host!"
(No, you can't.)
"What? Why not??"
(Because that's MY power. You can't do it on your own.)
"Okay, okay! You do it then."
(No.)
"WHY!?"
(Because I don't want to.)
"Wh...wh...?"
(Switching to her means killing you.)
"I know! It doesn't matter. I'm worthless. I thought I could take another Color by myself but I'm too weak, too slow. It's you that kills them, not me. The clan doesn't need me. They need Kotra. Do it. Save her, forget about me."
(I said no.)
"....? I... wh..."
(I don't care about her. I don't want her. Let's go home.)
Runt's mind went blank.
Kotra's eyes opened. "...Bro...?"
"Sis...? I... I'm so sorry. Because of me..."
"...you're... always in my way... I... loved you, but you... ... ..."
"I'm s... Kotra? Kotra??"
(There, she's dead. Can we go now?)
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