Osias wrenched his blade free from a lifeless carcass, his breath ragged and heavy. The effort pulled a low groan from his throat, a sound that echoed the weight of the battle fought.
As Osias did so, a massive hand, shrouded in deep crimson armor that seemed almost black in the dim light, reached into the gaping wound.
And within a second, the fallen beast was extracted of its blood.
"It's like the rotting underwood almost a week ago, right brother?" Osias called out.
"Mm," Kiran responded as he crouched over and inspected the lifeless beast. It was a ghastily skinny beast — perhaps a cross between perhaps a stag and a creature with claws. Its head was hefty, weighed down by giant antlers jutting out into a wicked crown of ash.
But what made Osias tremble slightly was the many scarlet petals that infested the beast's underside, spreading deep within as well.
Osias breathed in deeply, relieved that the beast was dead. It was about a mid-tier First Ordeal beast, but it was… awkward to fight. From the erratic way it moved and its many uncanny pauses.
Osias reaved whatever was left on his blade and then wiped it clean.
'More nicks.' He thought with a frown.
He lifted his gaze and looked around the clearing, wondering if it was good fortune that the mist was thin enough for him to see most of what lay here.
It just wasn't pleasant to look at.
Corpses, an entire herd of malformed stags, littered his sight. All of them lay sprawled against the ground in death, but they all also had an uncanny look of delight and pleasure stretched on their faces — as much pleasure a beast could show, Osias thought. As though the stags came upon a vast forest rich in the most delectable grass.
"Scarlet flower petals…"
This was the fourth time they'd encountered Path Beasts of the mist that were infected with these petals, each of them starkly different from each other.
The first was a solitary four-legged giant that looked to be made of stone. When they came upon it, it was eerily digging its feet into the ground as he drifted head-first into a tree absentmindedly. As though it was damned into an eternal routine. But as Kiran approached just a step closer, it released a shattering bellow and turned to rage at Kiran.
…It was among the weakest of the Third Ordeal, Kiran said, after he cut the beast down, cleaving it from head to chest. But upon its death, a storm of scarlet petals burst from the corpse, freely flowing in the wind. Alarmed, Kiran quickly dashed to pick him up away from the storm of petals.
That led them to today.
Glancing at the rotting corpse of a doe, he could see the familiar face of delight permanently stretched even in death. Scarlet flowers, a kind Osias didn't know of, sprouted from within, separating the flesh and hide of the doe's corpse as it bloomed toward the sky.
A blooming scarlet flower smeared with blood…
Almost the entire herd was dead when they came upon them. Aside from a few weak stragglers suffering from the spread of petals, it was easy work. They were much weaker than they should've been, all showing signs of control. The most difficult part of killing them was how they did not react.
They fought like hardened Blood Warriors — the same ones that Osias finds himself following the steps of.
Those that fight with cruelty, both to their enemies, but also to themselves. To fight and move as though you're already expecting to be wounded.
The lingering stags already inflicted with the petals fought like so. Osias would sever a leg and they wouldn't even flinch or grimace before aiming to batter him flat with their crown of antlers.
But after many times of crossing blades with such thralls of the scarlet petals, Osias knew well before that they didn't move with the same ferocity they could display with such a way of battle. And fortunately, they couldn't heal themselves.
Osias sighed deeply, thinking to himself that even here, in this endless expanse, he could learn from such beasts. He wanted to make that unshakable commitment to kill the enemy for his own. Despite how the beasts only display that because of their enthrallment…
Though, thinking of the endless expanse.
It must've been about two weeks, perhaps a little more since they've entered the mist.
The mist might very well be endless.
"Brother, did you find anything?" Osias asked, noticing Kiran was still crouched over the corpse.
"No," Kiran responded curtly.
"How about you try touching the petals?" Osias asked jokingly, walking towards a dead stag.
Those who were already dead before they arrived didn't burst into a storm of petals, only the ones who were alive and infected did. Yet it was odd, the flowers didn't do anything, not even spreading. They were just… bloomed flowers.
'Should we grind them into a tea?'
Shaking his head at the thought, Osias turned around and looked at Kiran. They considered it ever since the first sighting of the petals — for Kiran to touch the petals himself, probing its effects.
But it seemed their last run-in with the swarm's spores had taken a heavier toll on Kiran than Osias thought… besides, they'd already seen many Third Ordeal Path Beasts who had fallen to the scarlet petals.
"Are you going to do it?" Osias asked Kiran.
He turned around and found Kiran coming towards him. In Kiran's almost black gauntlet was a small, but lively creature — an odd First Ordeal beast who they've come upon a few days ago.
Kiran vastly overwhelmed such a creature, crippling its four legs and breaking off the misty tusks that extended from within its mouth. It was an ugly thing, grey all over. Weak, reliant on hiding and scrounging for scraps.
It seemed to know of its coming fate though…
"Back away, I'll also open the doe's underside a little," Kiran said, his spear in one hand.
Obliging his brother, he stepped back a little, but enough so he could see what will happen.
Then in the next moment, Kiran used his spear's tip to open the base of the sprouted flower a little more, exposing more scarlet roots and fallen petals.
And he threw the wailing beast towards the flower and roots, right atop the gutted doe.
Now they waited. Oasis eagerly watched, but suddenly the roots seemed to be drawn towards the living creature, eerily extending and wrapping around the small beast. Alas with its shattered legs, it couldn't crawl out of the large doe's body.
Next, petals from within the body surrounded the root-swaddled beast, enough to suffocate it as they entered its open mouth.
Then the feral desperation of the beast waned, and slowly its mouth was pulled back as though it relaxed.
'Enthralled now?'
The roots unwrapped the beast, and it used its head to push and crawl its way outside the open-bellied doe, towards Kiran.
'So flowers only sprout after death?'
The beast rolled out and landed atop the ground in a wet smack against the earth. Its limp legs twitched and attempted to move at its base, but Kiran was thorough.
It crawled using its neck and head against the ground miserably towards Kiran.
Kiran continued to watch before turning to talk:
"If we left the clearing it'll probably be stumbling circles until something alive wanders near it."
"Like that big stone one from before?"
"Mm, we've seen enough"
Then Kiran beheaded the slowly crawling beast in a quick arc of his spear.
And sure enough, roots began to spread and extend from its open neck, forming the base of what was soon to be another scarlet flower…
Osias shook his head and sighed. It was time to leave this clearing and continue north. Although the scarlet petals have infected many of the wandering creatures of the mist, not many have been inflicted by its control. Kiran mentioned that they were probably headed away from its spread and territory, merely brushing sides with what could be the border of its source.
'Scarlet…'
Because of the color of the petals, and the cruel nature of whatever it does to what creatures it touches, Osias thought it might have originated from what he talked about with Kiran under the colossal spine.
Perhaps the source of the scarlet petals was a relic or something influenced by the Path of Blood.
But Kiran quickly shot him down, something about the lack of connection with blood and blood essence. However Kiran did mention that it wasn't impossible, so they'll have to be wary of the source if they ever returned.
Though thinking of the relics… Osias hasn't had a single day where his mind didn't fixate on them. How couldn't he?
The chance that they may come upon such powerful objects. Perhaps even learn the truth of their Path's ancestor.
Osias watched Kiran extract the blood, careful to not touch the petals while his spear cut the risen roots:
"Brother, what is more important? The destination north, or the relics?"
Kiran stood to his feet and paused before replying:
"To make it there alive. We're too weak to explore the Outer Valleys in its entirety… the source of the scarlet petals, the Ashen Maggot, and all the other creatures too strong for us to even hide from have all made a dwelling towards the west — further beyond the inlands that lay east."
Then he continued in a lower voice:
"Yet we're still brushing sides with death, even where the Outer Valleys are at its supposed weakest."
Osias didn't pry anything further, following Kiran as he had already begun to leave the thin clearing.
'Northern Wind Union…' He thought wistfully.
A long way away. How many years would it take to get there? The last he asked Kiran, they were almost a quarter of the way through the lands of the Tailed Brothers if they went in a straight line east.
It still gnawed at his mind… how different it would've been had they chosen to venture north through the inlands rather than the Outer Valleys. How many fortresses, strongholds, and cities they'd have to pass? Each crawling with the Path Finders under the Tailed Brothers. All the while hiding their appearance and abilities despite the Path Finder's being able to sense Kiran as a Second Ordeal.
An impossible task, they were bound to stand out. Two unaffiliated vagrants coming from the south… suspicions would arise immediately. Even their appearances were unusual. Both are covered in eerie tattoos, while Kiran is a giant amongst men.
Osias himself would grow a head larger than many others in a few years time.
It was almost laughable how out of place they would seem… In another way, it seemed even more impossible compared to the Outer Valleys despite all they've gone through.
Worried about their future, Osias asked:
"Brother, when we arrive at the union, do you think that they'll… accept us?"
Kiran didn't stop his pace as he answered:
"That is years from now. By then, the tensions between the Three Factions would only rise. The Tailed Brothers can at last focus their efforts on the Crested instead of being worried by the blood-born to their south. They have more land, and more resources to sustain themselves whilst the Crested has returned to being pincered with the full force of both factions for the first time in centuries. Unless there is an unknown covenant between them, I foresee a grand war coming. The union would take anyone by then, long forgotten the woes from us blood-born."
"I see," Osias said.
A grand war… the fall of the Red Sky seems to be the spark to engulf the Wailing Chain in a battle for dominion once again.
Osias once heard that long before the Red Sky was formed from Garm and the elders the Wailing Chain was split into many Great Factions. Some were fallen and destroyed, some were assimilated into the Three Factions today.
"What was the war called, brother? The one that formed the Three Factions."
"The Tailed Rebellion. The reason why they are the strongest among the three."
That's right — the Tailed Rebellion. The first pair of heads of the Tailed Brothers, three successions ago. A rebellion that shaped the Wailing Chain hundreds of years ago. Almost a thousand years ago…
But Kiran suddenly asked in an odd tone:
"Do you like them? The stories of old."
"There was a library within one of the chambers besides the one Garm tattooed me in. If the lingering pain wasn't too bad and Garm was away, I was allowed access to it. There were a lot of records on whatever history the Red Sky collected from the raids." Osias responded.
He paused as he recalled the small library and added:
"A lot of information was missing, you could tell. Especially much of the north. Most of the information on the land where the Crested rule and above them is through Garm's travels. The origins of both the Crested and the Northern Wind Union is patchy."
"Mm. That is why we'll be cautious as we approach their lands. Much of the reason why I believe we'll be accepted is conjecture. But anywhere is safer than residing within the lands of the very people who so fervently sought to kill those of our Path." Kiran affirmed.
Then Kiran rebuked him, "Think of the present rather than then. We have to leave the Outer Valleys alive."
In the next moment, Kiran abruptly stopped. Osias peered over to see what lay in front of them.
'Ah, more scarlet petals…' He thought as he saw a single beast lying still. It was facing directly at them, and an uncanny deadpan stare. A mindless thing it was, hideous as well.
It looked like a plump salamander crossed with a giant. Deformed horns sprouted out of its neck, wrapping around its head. Many more odd protrusions jutted out of its malformed thighs as well.
Two stout and hefty legs, it's hard to believe this was the result of its Path… Osias's eyes were attracted to the rolls of fat on its midsection.
'What kind of beast did it hail from to appear like this…'
Oddly enough as well, it wielded a weapon. A crude ashen tree made into a cudgel or sorts. Blood and grime caked its weapon, staining it black. It looked a little laughable too, its short arms didn't fit such a long weapon and fat body.
"Do we go around it like the others or do you want to face it?" Osias asked, returning his attention to the pool of scarlet petals infesting where its groin should be.
The last few times they've encountered beasts afflicted with scarlet petals they've simply veered around them and continued on, unwilling to fight something they could avoid.
They decided to face the stags because they were both weak and the large clearing housed an abundance of sprouted scarlet flowers… something they'd been waiting to test its effects.
"Go around. We gain nothing this time if we fight." Kiran said. "Unless you wish to prove yourself here."
"Against a Third Ordeal?" Osias hissed.
But Kiran didn't say anything, only shaking his head slightly. Then, Osias recalled what Kiran said he needed to prove himself again and raised his eyebrows in shock.
"I refuse to believe this behemoth is a Second Ordeal. Are you sure?" Osias cut back.
"It is — though it could likely kill the weakest among Third Ordeals. That's why the presence around it is as pronounced and dangerous as a Third Ordeal, but not quite so… refined. With more experience, you'll understand." Kiran said indifferently.
Osias took another quick glace at the motionless tree-wielding giant and shook his head. Not today. He'll prove himself, but not against this thing.
"Let's go around it." He quickly said.
"Mm."