One hour before the direct encounter.
"Say, Samsong, is there any way for my thoughts to be reached by them?" asked Kivas.
"As much as I want to help you, brother, the irregular wavelength that they used has been deterring those little tricks of mine from being near use." The goat's head frowned as he too, searched for answers. "Figured, the source of it all seemed to be a compact object, portable enough to be carried by one of them. If you can destroy that object, I can start using my mist and essence of nature to directly investigate the site."
"Essence of nature, you say."
"Gyihi. My real strength comes from my presence, whom you can't even perceive without letting my whole body in your illumination. The destructive force that I wield merely comes as a neat package of it. Truth to be told, I wield no aptitude for this magic, sorcery, science, or whatever you living being refers to it as." The head of the goat started to look proud. "But after millions of years, I've come to learn this personal trick of mine by observing the things surrounding me. Hence, I call it the essence of nature!"
"Ohohoh! Maybe I can try learning this too."
"It will be a delight if I can be your mentor for it!" The goat then immediately cleared his throat. "As for your request, I think it's possible if I used your soul as a temporary reservoir for my telepathic power. In which you can use it for a single time in a short timespan, considering that your soul is more bleak than the dept of hell that I've been into."
"Wouldn't hell be bright with all of the fire inside?"
"A different kind of hell than you know, of course."
"Huh, sounds familiar with my kind of hell."
Two minutes later, Samsong had infused all of the essence of nature he could provide within the unstable and erratic existence of Kivas' soul.
"That took a whole lotta effort, more than I considered it to be, even!"
The goat seemed to be more satisfied than he looked.
"With this, I might be able to drive those childs away…"
"Soft heart on the inside, aren't ya?" The goat could understand what Kivas' felt. "I wished that I could be of more use, but even for someone who holds a grand reservoir of power like me to actually feel miserable, I feel the need to go outside and start refreshing my wits and knowledge. And maybe, you know, touch some grass in the process of it."
"Maybe you need to start exercising instead."
"As if I need to be even more bulkier than what I'm now!"
Both laughed at their little silly conversation before the mist started to form, removing the goat's head out of sight from Kivas.
"Just a few words of my mind, brother." Kivas gritted his teeth as his adrenaline started to gush out after knowing how important this mission was. "I saw some of their faces before they came here. Aside from a venomous snake amongst the group, pretty much all of them are determined to the point of traveling the whole world to fulfill their goal."
Kivas knew the face of someone who was desperate to see things to an end. In many years within the military, he met with many comrades and enemies alike who showed no hesitation in the face of danger. Even if he didn't see their face, he could feel the throbbing glare and flare that had gone through something much more traumatic than their current point in life.
After all, to kill is to detach both the soul of oneself and the victim. Only by such means, the survivor could move onward to the future where they are unable to remove their detestable past.
"What's weighing your mind? Anything that I can help you with?"
"There is a great chance that I might die in the process." Kivas grinned. Although, there wasn't really anything different from him as his mouth from Searing Gluttony didn't include any feature of expression. "Just saying here now, I will die by their hands, no dice."
"Why such words, brother?"
"Because saying that I'll survive and come back later might trigger a possible red flag." Kivas said that with a monotone telepathic voice. "I read enough literature where that would be the case. I want to carry a torch, not a flag."
"Pfft! I feel like I've heard of that somewhere… as much as I want to shove it off like a fetchy rapscallion…"
"Well then, this is Kivas Chariot." He launched both of his frontal legs onto the trees near the entrance to the alternate forest, catapulting himself into the path led by the mist. "Going light!"
After 20 minutes of piercing the forest's heart through the guidance of the mist like a mad drifter in a mountain's concrete road, Kivas reached the end of the guidance from the mist where he must venture alone without Samsong's supervision.
"I bless you with great faith and courage, brother. Your burden is not yours to carry alone, for I too hold a responsibility for the nigh result."
"Preach for my safety then, heh. Just you wait, I'll force you to teach me everything you know about this 'essence of nature' when I'm back."
"Gosh darned, brother, I thought you don't want to carry that dumb and pointy flag!"
From here and out, Kivas must do a solo reconnaissance and assessment. The faith of the world and whoever he would encounter shall rest on his torch, for he paved his own light and held onto his hope, never doubt for a clearer sky for he wouldn't see the end of the tunnel if he let his light go.
"Humans are just bad at doing something without knowing the stakes at hand, brother!" Kivas wholeheartedly laughed. "And from this point onward, this is Kivas Chariot-"
He entered the unknown beyond the cradle of the mist.
"Going dark!"