Chapter 18:
Sein-
Sein could feel the curse growing stronger as they drew nearer. The foreign, oppressive mana bearing down on his defenses, looking for a single crack in the divine protection of the Goddess that shielded him from its effects and finding none.
Frieren was already beginning to doze and sway as she walked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her own expansive mana reserves and experience gave her some resistance but she was quickly beginning to succumb.
And then Sein looked at Kratos and Atreus.
And both were wide awake.
In fact, stretching out his senses towards the two, it was as if the curse couldn’t even begin to find purchase on their flesh. Like they were priests in their own right.
It… didn’t make a lick of sense.
“Come on Ms. Frieren, just a little farther.” Atreus’ voice brought him back to the present, finding the boy holding onto the Elf’s arm, trying to guide the dozing mage through the dark underbrush as the last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon.
Frieren followed the boy’s guiding hand, eyes barely even qualifying as half lidded anymore, they were almost outright closed.
How were Kratos and Atreus completely immune?
Still, they were drawing closer, if he had to guess, two, maybe three hundred more meters.
“Hey Sein-” He heard Frieren mumble. “Wake me if you need me ok?”
Wake her if-
“I can only give you-shit!” And like that, the elf succumbed; Atreus practically heaving as he strained to catch her and prevent her from falling flat on her face. Sein rushed over, not only to check on her but help the boy physically carry the elf to the base of a nearby tree to sit her down.
Kratos; with footsteps like a bear’s marched up behind them. “She has succumbed?”
Sein nodded, the disquieting question as to how Kratos and Atreus not only hadn’t but didn’t seem affected at all scratched at the back of his mind but he pushed it aside. “Yes. But-Oh.”
And then, slipping free of the shadows of the forests, wispy tendrils of mana… in the shape of a Honey Badger.
Fern’s Honey Badger.
The ethereal beast waddled up to them, apparently returning from wherever he’d been off to for however many days since Fern let it wander off.
It planted itself firmly on Frieren’s lap, sitting there like a guard dog.
Sein, Atreus and Kratos stared at it.
The beast, completely unbothered, reached for Frieren’s arms with its mouth, gently biting and dragging both arms until they rested on its shoulders in a sort of pseudo hug.
If the Honey Badger had a tail, Sein got the impression it’d be wagging in triumph.
Kratos turned and began walking once more. “Come. The Forest grows quiet. We are close.”
“I’m not comfortable just leaving her here!” Sein protested.
Kratos didn’t answer, but Atreus grabbed hold of his bow again and moved to follow his father. “Fern’s watching her.” The boy said with what might have been a reassuring smile. “Think she’ll do a better job than we would.”
He turned away and jogged after his father.
So unaffected by the curse the boy could jog.
Sein grit his teeth, fists clenching. He was glad he wasn’t going into this fight alone…
But he needed some answers once this was done.
Getting up, he tossed the Honey Badger one more look before following after them.
To Sein’s eyes, the shadows of the forest grew long and deep, the utter silence and stillness in the woods becoming unnatural.
To his magical senses, the threat loomed large, he could just see it through the gloom, the Monster’s Mana was a towering thing, matching its body. Kratos’ pulled his axe free from its place along his back, Atreus nocked an arrow onto its string.
Then they entered the clearing.
“A Chaos flower.” He whispered for the sake of the other two.
It looked like a purple lily flower, vines thick as tree trunks writhed and squirmed underneath it, the opening along its core dilating and shrinking as it seemed to look at these things that dared march infront of it without falling to its curse.
“The Core is its weak point.” He said, magic flowing into his hands. “We have to hit it there!”
And that was as far as warnings got.
The monster whipped its long, tree like vine straight at them, Atreus leapt to the side and then flew up to the skies, Sein too, dodged the strike that could have leveled a castle wall.
It was Kratos that caught it, grabbing hold of the writhing appendage like a massive bear
The Pale giant roared, heaving as he pulled, and Sein felt his eyes go wide as dinner plates as he watched the man throw the Monster, even going so far as to uproot the beast from where it’d dug itself into the soil.
The beast crashed into the tree line, thunderous cracks shook Sein’s body down through his bones, its limbs flailing, looking like a pit of green writhing snakes.
As its head rose up, Sein took the opportunity.
“Three spears of the Goddess!”
The lances of light cut through the night air, bathing the clearing in golden radiance just as he heard Atreus yell out an incantation at his side, a crackling lightning arrow firing straight and true for the core.
Disoriented as the monster was its limbs still rose, the leaves covering the core in a shield that reflected the spells in every which direction.
Sein grit his teeth; he’d never heard of a Chaos flower having the power to do that! It must’ve been a particularly powerful variant.
Then he saw Kratos leaping clear across the sky, Axe raised high, a roar bellowing out of him as he went to swing straight down on the creature.
Another vine whipped out, and caught the man full in the chest, he had no footing to resist and so the pale giant was battered away, tumbling across the clearing before he crashed hard into a tree, the great oak cracking and groaning as it toppled over while he stood back up, recalling his axe back into his hand as the tree finished hitting the ground behind him.
“You good!” Atreus shouted from on high.
“Yes!”
Absurdly Sein almost laughed, a flight of hysteria making him wonder just how much both he and Atreus might have shat a brick if the answer hadn’t been so… reassuring.
The Chaos Flower found its “footing” again, it’s viny limbs spreading out, tendrils coiled high to whip and lash down at them, poised to defend itself.
Mimir:
One by one, their friends succumbed to the curse.
Brok of course, had been first, blue bastard had barely put up any fight at all, very quickly Fern had discussed everything she knew about how curses functioned. The reason priests were the only ones who could boast an immunity to it and not the more versatile magic of mages is because simply put, the blessing of the Goddess warded their soul, the thing that curses directly targeted.
Stark, Sindri and Fern all began to fall asleep at roughly the same time, Sindri valiantly fighting to try and cobble together some form of charm to help only to fall asleep with hammer and chisel in hand, a half carved rune on a stone sitting between his feet.
Stark went under a moment later, pressing his body to the door in a last ditch effort to keep it closed, or be forcefully woken up if it was forced open.
Fern would be the last, and Mimir sat at her side, holding her hand, as gently as he could reassuring her that he was here.
He could do that for them now.
The young mage stared up at him, fighting sleep.
“I want to try something…” He heard her half whisper, though he wasn’t sure if she was speaking to him or to herself.
Then, something interesting happened, through the touch on his hand… he felt what he assumed was her Mana, shifting, moving. It slipped past his senses like water through a net, but she did do something.
Whatever it was, he couldn’t see its results, outside of tiring her out even faster.
When her eyes refocused, she met his gaze as best she could.
“You really are immune.” She half mumbled, half whispered, eyes half lidded.
Mimir nodded. “Aye Lass.” Then he smiled. “I don't even sleep much without the curse. So no beasty will be making my eyes droop.”
“Because of what you are.”
“What I am is a head Lass.” He smiled.
He saw her grip tighten on his hand; he couldn’t feel it though. “You know what I mean.” She protested.
“Aye I do.”
“Will you tell me?” She was mumbling now, speech slurring. The curse had almost taken her under. “I’d like to know… if we don't wake up.”
The words made him stiffen just a bit.
He did not know Fern’s full story. But he was Mimir. The smartest man alive.
That title wasn’t for nothing.
He could infer and deduce much from the clues put infront of him.
She was raised by a priest, likely because her parents were not present. Given that she carried a locket with their image with her, likely they’d died when she was very young.
Her severe and dutiful nature spoke of a girl that had grown up far too quickly. Who had suffered enough even in her short life.
While her words might sound dramatic, even manipulative, Mimir had no doubt that she was sincere and did acknowledge on some level, that she indeed might not wake. Death had passed its shadow over her life more than once before.
Mimir sighed.
He looked down at her, and saw that her eyes were fully closed. Her grip having slackened on his hand.
“Rest easy my girl.” He whispered in the stillness of the cabin.
“Gods watch over you.”
—
Sein
“Þruma!”
“Three spears of the Goddess!”
As once again the magic bounced clear off the monster’s leaf shields Sein found himself gritting his teeth. ‘We’re getting nowhere!’ He thought in dismay.
But even as he thought this, he couldn’t help but notice that the majority of the creature's attacks weren’t being directed at him or Atreus, but rather Kratos.
The monster was fending them off, but it was actively trying to drive Kratos back.
Kratos for his part, seemed inexhaustible, his axe and shield constantly beating aside monstrously powerful blows and still marching forward. He hadn’t damaged the beast, but the man was sucking in all of its attention.
Then, Sein saw the man look up. “Atreus!”
The startled shout drew Sein’s own attention skyward, where he saw Atreus swooping around to get behind the Chaos flower. “I’ve got an idea!” The magic archer shouted back.
Sein didn’t know what the boy could be thinking but he launched another volley of Goddess spears trying to keep the beast’s attention away from the diminutive archer as Kratos hacked and slashed with that axe.
Atreus’s feet touched the ground and the boy slapped his hand onto the grass.
“Elgr hríð”
And then an Elk the size of a house appeared out of thin air and Sein was practically thrown off his feet.
Not just him either, all the trees surrounding the clearing seemed to be bowing outwards, pushed away by the pressure and wind force this thing was exerting.
And the monster, trapped between the spectral elf and Kratos… was being pushed closer to the pale giant.
The elk began to walk forward, and the Chaos flower tried to lash out, its tree trunk sized limbs trying to batter the beast away, only for the limbs to crash against an invisible shield, leaving the Elk inviolate as it kept marching forward, its pressure on the beast increasing and pushing it closer towards Kratos, actual furrows being carved into the ground where the entrenched monster couldn’t keep its grip.
If a flower could look indecisive; at that moment, this one qualified.
“Sein! Shoot at the core!” Atreus commanded already drawing an arrow.
Sein had just a second to react, and he didn’t bother hesitating or second guessing; the kid had a plan and it looked to be working so far! “Three Spears of the Goddess!”
Light magic and crackling arrow sailed through the air, and just like before the beast’s leaf like shields came up to protect its weakspot; light bouncing off and an arrow deflected to the side.
But then- blood, a screech of pain, it took a second for Sein’s eyes to adjust to the gloom again, only to see the head of that axe, buried clear through all four shield layers of those leaves!
The monster howled, a low groaning sound that seem to vibrate up through the earth and send the air around them trembling, it leaned back, looking to pull away and escape but the pressure of the spectral elk wouldn’t let it move, pressing it forward and cutting off its retreat.
Then he heard the rattling of chains.
Blades of fire whipped through the air, coiling around the cloven leaf shields, now stuck together on the head of that axe its limbs bound tightly in the chains before Kratos pulled.
The monster was yanked forward and down, like a prisoner bound in chains for the gallows, the flames on the blades actually began to burn away the flesh of its stalks where they touched, something Sein knew was supposed to be utterly impossible.
It thrashed and flailed, its limbs tearing apart the whole clearing, one nearly taking off Sein’s head in the monster’s maddened panic and frenzied rage.
“NOW!”
Kratos’ roar snapped him back into action and Sein took aim at the clear open shot, launching what would hopefully be his last volley of spears as he heard Atreus’ voice directly above them once again.
Zoltraak Fálki lið
In spite of himself, his eyes were drawn to it, very clearly hearing the word that was part of the incantation, just in time to see a half dozen falcons of pure Zoltraak energy swooping down from on high.
Again, the beast tried to raise its limbs to shield itself, but Kratos pulled on those chains, the man’s monstrous might holding the shield away from its goal.
And just like that, light spears and screeching falcons found their mark.
The Chaos flower was torn to pieces, its head exploding and beginning to dissolve in flakes of Mana before its bloody flesh even struck the ground.
Sein watched it, he watched Atreus and the boy’s satisfied smile above, he watched Kratos as he uncoiled the blades and pulled them back into his hands as if by magic.
He watched the flames still licking at the monster’s flesh, burning it away even as it dissolved into flakes.
And he knew that he wanted answers…
—
Frieren
She woke to a weight on her stomach and chest, eyes fluttering open and peering down, only to find a black ethereal nose bumping her on the chin.
Her hands came up, petting the beast who almost seemed to purr in contentment.
“Hello.” She smiled. “What adventures have you been getting up to?” She asked.
Fern’s honey badger seemed quite content to accept scratches at the moment.
And she had woken up. So she knew that all was well.
It was even still night.
Kratos, Atreus and Sein must’ve worked quickly.
In fact, she could sense their Mana drawing closer now.
She decided to wait patiently by the tree. They'd left her here, so they would come back for her here.
She smiled down at the contented Honey Badger.
“I imagine you won't be the only one with a story to tell soon.”
(X)(X)(X)
Why yes dear reader, Fern's Honey Badger has been up to some shennanigans why do you ask? :p