Pollo quickly grabs the knife and picks up their bags, "We have to go now, Mono, hurry." He gestures for Mono to hold his hand.
Mono gulps as he feels his heart thumping in his chest, but he just nods when he notes how serious his brother was and grabs his hand as they both immediately start running, making Mono lose his balance for a second with the sudden pull.
Pollo was being really frantic as they rushed through the trees, slicing through the shrubbery and pushing the foliage out of their way as quickly as they could. Pollo was running almost too fast for Mono to catch up as he stumbled and struggled to keep up with his pace.
This wasn't something that had happened before, Pollo was usually calm and he would laugh as he defeated any enemy that they had encountered, but this time, he seemed unusually distressed.
Mono panted as Pollo ran with him out of the forest and into the open area surrounded by large, rocky cliffs.
"P-Pollo..." Mono huffed, trying to catch his breath but before he could gather himself, Pollo suddenly came to a halt, making Mono bump into his back, "Oof! Pollo... Wh...What?"
He breathed heavily as he stopped and looked at his friend, "Pollo?"
Pollo was silent as he clenched his jaw, and took out the knife, gripping it tightly as his gaze strictly on the distance in front of him. Not having any kind of response, Mono peeked from behind his back to look at his face and he saw Pollo looking very stressed and serious, prepared for some kind of fight but there was no confidence on his face like he usually would have, making Mono worry, so he followed his line of sight to try and see what had his friend standing so frozen in place.
But when he looked, he couldn't see anything, making him feel even more puzzled, he turned back to Pollo, and attempted to ask again, "Pollo, what's wrong? What's happening?"
Pollo finally spoke, not letting his gaze waver from whatever he had his eyes on in front of him, and he firmed his grip on the knife, "They're coming, stay behind me." He pushed Mono behind his back.
"Who? Who's coming?" He looked at Pollo again, feeling a sense of dread and uneasiness.
Right then, the ground shook the earth once more, but it felt like large, booming footsteps grew louder as the ground started to vibrate more vigorously and this time, unlike before when they were running away from it, it felt like they had found themselves running towards it. And when Mono looked up again, he could see a hoard of almost a thousand stone built giants heading their way in extreme speed.
Mono gasped in fear and shook Pollo, pulling at his arm, "Come on, Pollo, we have to run! Hurry!"
Pollo clenched his teeth, "We can't run Mono, those are the rock giants and they already have their eyes on us. We are intruders in their realm now," He growled in frustration, "I should've known!"
Mono was feeling a lot of emotions at that moment, he had never seen Pollo so serious and so panicked. It was making him feel a whirl of confusion, panic, distress and fear all at the same time as he just froze and clenched his grip on Pollo's arm.
In a moment, right then, the army of rock giants were right in front of them in such a flash it seemed like an impossible feat to witness such enormous figures move with such incredible agility, and it was the most intimidating sight Mono had ever seen. Their massive towering frame, their piercing gaze from a solo crimson eye etched onto their face, their rocky exterior and the enormous trees they held in their hands as their weapon.
As the giants approached, Pollo knew he had to make a decision and turned to Mono, putting his hands on his shoulders, "Listen Mono, I want you to run, run as fast as you can and as further away from this place as possible."
Mono nods, "O... Okay, then... let's go, Pollo. We need to hurry, right?" Mono trembles as the feeling of dread grows in his chest.
Pollo looks at him sadly, "I'm sorry Mono, but this time you have to continue on your own journey."
Mono shakes his head, "No, no, we go together." He pulls on his brother's hand, "Come on, let's go, Pollo!"
Pollo pulls his hand away, and turns back towards the army of giants that were growling menacingly.
And then, with a deep breath and determination fueling his heart, Pollo starts reaching for his head and that grabs Mono's attention, snapping him out of his daze as he grips his friend's hand, "H-Hey! Pollo! What are you doing?! You said you can't take off your head!"
"Mono..." Pollo looks back at him with a sympathetic expression as the giant in the very front roars, his voice echoing and rumbling throughout the area, it seemed as if it reached and shook the sky. The massive monster now ready to attack, without any hesitation, raises his weapon. Pollo clenches his fists, "I'm out of time..."
"I'm sorry, I couldn't keep my promise."
Mono's eyes widen, "P-Pollo... No, wait..." He tries to stop his brother again, but Pollo pushes Mono back and he falls on the ground, "Oof!"
He tries to get up quickly, but Pollo is already removing his head, "POLLO! NO! DON'T!" Mono screams in desperation, but his friend's head is already off, revealing an unfamiliar head of hair which Mono saw for the first time since the day they had met.
It didn't make him happy, but instead, he watched in despair as he fell to his knees. He knew... He always knew why Pollo wouldn't remove his head, because he saw... he would see Pollo struggling with something inside his head and the painful screams he would hide from him, with the excuse of going out to get food. He knew that for Pollo, this was the worst thing that could happen.
Pollo turned back to look at him, his face now that of a young boy, a human face, just like Mono's and it made him think of just how alike they really were, and he smiled, "Goodbye, Mono..."
Tears start streaming down Mono's cheeks as he watches Pollo's face erupt reaching towards the sky, bigger than the rock giants that once stood to shadow them. And it made the giants halt their attack and collectively take a step backwards.
The sudden and unexpected sight Mono crawl back in surprise as it was nothing like what he could've even imagined. He was watching his friend's face growing larger and changing its form completely, turning into a body of something else entirely.
A spirit like creature soon formed and loomed in the place that Pollo once stood, the large and daunting spirit that now entered this confrontation was something like three conjoined spirits, stitched into one and each having a large eye on their forms, glowing a bright flaming red.
The violet and translucent hue that made up the bodies of the spirits, screeched in a sharp pitch before entering the mouth of the giant in front of them, possessing it completely.
The giant slumped for a moment, before a sigil appeared on its forehead, signifying its possession. With a rumble, the giant turned towards the hoard and roared. Then, in a flash, it attacked the nearest giant, swinging the giant weapon in its hand at its opponent, smashing its head into pebbles and with a loud thud that reverberated throughout the area, one of the giants had fallen.
And as the first giant fell in defeat, its head smashed with the attack, the rest of the giants realized the threat that was posed to them, roared in unison shaking the ground enough that it cracked and crumbled the cliffs around them, and then, they began charging towards their attacker ready to eliminate the intruder.
Mono watched, completely frozen in place, as his friend, who was now some creature fighting an impossible battle, struggled against an army of rock giants, and them laying on a barrage of unyielding attacks that were becoming very apparently difficult for Pollo to keep up with. But whatever this thing that was once Pollo seemed nothing like him, as it fought wildly, seeking destruction.
But it was slowly getting its possessed stone body destroyed and chipped away by the oncoming attacks, and Mono felt completely helpless as he watched, unable to do anything to stop it as tears streamed down his cheeks, seeing his brother slowly... Becoming gone.
"Run, Mono..." He felt Pollo's voice echo in his head, and he gritted his teeth in frustration. Digging his nails into his palms from his clenched fists. But through the tears, and despite the agonizing feeling of weakness, he shakily stood up, turned around, and started running.