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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxᴛʜᴇ sᴏғᴛ ᴇᴄʜᴏ
sᴛᴀʀᴛ ғɪɴɪsʜ
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ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ
✓ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀɪʀᴡᴀʏ ᴜᴘ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛʀᴜᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ.
After a few minutes of climbing a seemingly neverending staircase, spiraling up through a stone tower, you and Deika finally manage to
reach one final landing, before a large, wood-and-iron doubledoor. Though you can no longer hear the howls and screeches of the
creatures below, you are both quick to push against the doors, and they open up without resistance. A forested landscape is revealed on
the other side, and the first hit of fresh air pours over you.
The air is very humid, and though the sun is likely still setting, the overgrowth above you is so thick that it almost looks like the middle
of the night on the forest floor.
The creatures you came across seem unable to follow you up the narrow staircase, and so you both take a moment to quietly catch your
breath.
"Thank god..." Deika lets his relief show, before he sits down on one of the rocks on a small, pebbled path.
Looking behind you, you notice the wood-and-iron doubledoors fit in a stone frame under the eave of a cave-like roof, and any other
signs of the structure are completely obscured by natural rock or plant overgrowth. Such a place would be very difficult to spot from a
distance.
In front of Deika sits a small pond, settled at the end of a tiny stream, and in the distance there's an old, decayed rope bridge suspended
up high in the tree canopies.
...
The ground rumbles softly, catching your and Deika's attention for a moment, as you both try to determine where the sound is coming
from. It doesn't sound like its beneath you, but it does sound close by.
Another small impact, before the cave roof over the doubledoors begins to creak, with small formations of rock shifting a little.
"Dei!" You call out to Deika, and he quickly gets back onto his feet and backs away from the cave entrance with you.
It is only a moment before yet another impact sounds, and the cave roof begins crumbling and falling down. Plant overgrowth and large
boulders fall down loosely in front of the doubledoors, piling up before they've managed to obscure much of the entryway, though there's
still enough room for the average person to pass around it.
"Nobody's finding this place anytime soon." Deika comments.
...
Now, a much larger impact sounds, and with your attentions focused, you can now get a rough idea of the direction its coming from;
over the top of the cave, further up the hill above the underground structure. It sounds like people are fighting, perhaps using Elemental
Magic.
Deika looks to you for a moment, before deciding on something. "We need to see what that is. If those creatures got out --" he
cuts himself off, noticing that you're thinking similarly.
...
After about a minute of climbing through overgrowth and making your way up the hill, it flattens to a wide, stone plateau at the top, and
you catch sight of several people, many who are clearly Spirits, given their animal features, who are fighting against creatures that have
made their way to the surface from inside the structure. There are openings where larger stairways lead to open air, and about a dozen of
the creatures have spilled out to fight against those people.
"Get on their side!" a female from the group calls out to her allies. "See if you can destroy the openings!"
As she gives her instruction, another fires a stream of fire at one of the creatures, then argues back with her, "We have to see if
anyone is left first!" he asserts. "There were still others who went missing!"
The fight continues, with the dozen-or-so people fighting against the creatures with Elemental Magic and their own weapons, before you
and Deika look towards eachother.
You both silently hope that these people are here to rescue you, and as you turn your attention back to the scene in the distance, one
final rumbling echoes across the ground. The rumbling shakes the ground violently this time, and everyone atop the stone structure falters
and struggles to stay upright, before an almighty shriek pierces through the air.
"Gheet OwwWN theeeeRE ssssaaaiiIIIIDE!!" A ghastly, feral voice echoes in the air, warped and twisted, painfully stabbing at your
ears.
Both you and Deika immediately slam your palms against the sides of your heads, trying to brace against the sound and cover your ears,
before several parts of the stone structure begin caving in. As a good number of the beasts fall into the structure as the ground beneath
them gives way, one of the fighters in the distance turns sharply alert.
"Get down!!!" he screams, turning and sprinting away from the largest opening in the structure's roof.
Immediately, a powerful, bright beam of lightning erupts from inside the structure, about thirty degrees up from being perfectly horizontal,
aimed towards the group of fighters. The beam just narrowly misses the man who called out just a second ago, and the sound is beyond
intense. The beam quickly shoots through the sky over the forest, before thinning and dissipating after a moment.
"Guardian!! Get clear!! one of the females commands the others. "Get away from the structure, now!"
"Wait!!" Deika calls out from beside you, as half of the group of fighters leap off the side of the structure, to slide down the hill on the
opposite side.
One of the fighters turns towards you and Deika, spotting you; the man who launched a stream of fire and sprinted away from the beam
of lightning.
A moment passes as another warped, painful shriek booms through the air from inside the structure, and the man sprints towards you and
Deika. As he closes the distance and Deika notices he's not slowing down despite getting close, you assume he wants you both to get off
the structure as soon as possible as well.
"Dei, come on!" You call out to him, and he quickly turns and runs alongside the man, before you join them.
Without wasting any time thinking about it, the three of you leap of the edge of the stone structure and slide down the overgrown hill.
There's enough moisture on all of the plants that you slide pretty smoothly the entire way down, before a sudden drop over the collapsed
cave entrance, and you land in the small pond you'd stood before earlier.
...
All three of you surface, coming onto your knees and finding the water is so shallow that there's no risk of sinking very far into it. The man
quickly rises to his feet and walks out of the small pool of water, before extending an arm towards you, and another towards Deika.
As you both accept his help and get pulled out from the water, the man quickly deduces what you must have just been through.
"You were in the structure, too." He comments.
"Yes..." Deika replies, catching his breath again, "What was that thing...?"
The man seems concerned for your safeties, but conflicted about whether or not he should return to the structure to look for other
survivors. "A Possessed Beast. A Guardian." He explains. "It won't leave the structure, no matter what, so we should be safe
so long as we keep our distance. But..."
The man turns to you, and it is at this point you realise you recognise him.
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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLeth Granderize
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"Are you the only ones left?" He probes. "Did you come across anyone else inside that structure -- anyone at all?"
You look towards Deika for a moment. You know the only other person you saw was him, but you don't know if he came across anyone else
while he was in there.
"We didn't see anyone else." Deika answers.
...
Leth takes a moment to think on the answer, before his eyes lock onto you and his expression changes.
"You were at the Recruitment Meeting three months ago, weren't you?"
Thinking back, you do seem to recall having received an invitation to a meeting from the Eikomi Spirit Family. Something to do with helping
them, or selecting a weapon, or...
The details are fuzzy. Your recent memories are in shambles.
Leth notices your expression changing however, and takes it to mean that your answer is yes. "Tell me." His tone turns deathly serious.
"You took one of the RM Weapons, didn't you?"
Its hard to remember anything precise, but, you do recall that you were given a weapon during the meeting. Something that reacted to you.
Leth turns away, clearly scowling, as if ready to hit something. "They've found a way to track down everyone who came to the
meeting." He snaps under his breath.
"M-my house!" Deika exlaims, surprised. "S-someone came to my house! And... I remember!" His expression turns to concern.
"Someone has been kidnapping anyone with Reactive Metalline in their possession and --" Leth begins explaining, still scowling
fiercely, before his attention is forced away. He turns, about-face, in an instant, and readies his fists.
"Leth! Get moving!" the female from earlier calls out as she treads through some foliage, snapping small shrubs and sticks under her
boots. "We need to bring everyone back and report this!"
Leth relaxes, then looks down at the ground for a moment, in thought, before turning back towards you and Deika.
"Look. Come with us. We can't stay here." He entreats. "We can head to the Village of Vanna and find out how this happened."
"What -- what about those monsters?" Deika questions.
"..." Leth looks up towards the hilltop, thinking. "We can't do anything about them right now. We have to come back with a bigger
force and take it on." A thought disturbs him for a moment, before he vocalises it. "We're just going to have to hope nobody is
unfortunate enough to come near here in the meantime."
...
Safety at last, you think.
After a few more moments, you and Deika decide to leave with Leth and his companions, heading for the Village of Vanna.
Thoughts of the screeching, howling monsters hiding inside the ruined structure eat away at your mind for the next few hours, until you
and Leth's companions set up a small camp and go to sleep for the night.
You continue making your way towards the Village the next morning, intent on discovering anything you can about how you wound up at
the bottom of the structure filled with monsters.
