Elira Phasol: The Ends Forest

Ominous clouds covered Elira's entire vision as she craned her neck to look at the sky -- or specifically -- the absence of it. She turned her head to the direction where they came from and saw the dividing line between the sky and the clouds.

Their journey went on a boring note as they traversed the plains without interruption. She saw a herd of Triple-Horned Bull but they didn't seem to care about the moving metal, despite being famous for their aggressiveness.

Gerund only woke up after they started to disembark from the carriage. He seemed oblivious to the awkward silence permeating the air as he yawned and stretched his muscles in the grass.

With their transport now parked at the edge of the End's Forest, she decided to have the initiative and break the silence with an inquiry. She had been wondering what they plan to do about the carriage; they couldn't just leave it parked in the open after all. However, orbs of light suddenly appeared out of thin air and circled around their carriage before she could ask. The orbs of light suddenly turned to glowing lines, stretching and twisting; it formed some sort of language that Elira couldn't understand.

Serath seemed to be the source of the transforming energy as he was standing near their carriage while having a look of deep concentration on his face. The hovering lights slowly made their way to the frame of the carriage and once they touched the metal, they exploded in a bright color of white that left spots on her vision. They promptly disappeared after the onslaught on her vision -- along with the carriage.

Her eyes twitched and her tail swished as she tried to keep the surprise off her face at the sudden disappearance of their metal contraption.

Serath made his way to her with an apologetic look on his face after his 'explosive' performance.

"Elira, I'm sorry about the way I behaved during our ride. It was ill-mannered of me to affect the mood of my company because of something that happened long past." He apologized to her with the patented polite smile, back on his lips.

'At least he is still calling me Elira, I wouldn't know what to do if he went back on Ms Phasol'. She thought before giving an apology of her own -- at least some form it.

"Don't worry about it, it was partly my fault so let's just forget about the whole thing."

"Yes. We should follow Mr Gerund and Theresa as they seemed to be heading towards the direction of the forest already." He nodded over her shoulder and when she turned around, they are indeed walking without a care for the two.

They followed quickly behind them and Elira noticed that she seemed to be the only one wearing some sort of weapon in her body.

She could finally see Theresa's outfit, which was a simple tight-fitting robe with the color of the grass beneath their feet and sleeves that are both long and wide. The robes ended around her thighs which were covered with black tights and she had flat shoes for foot equipment. She looked like a blind woman that was going for a stroll in the city's park, instead of walking to a forest infested with creatures that could end a man with a single swipe.

Gerund was wearing the same protective gears as her: leather breastplate, greaves, bracers, but with an addition of a single shoulder pad. The color of his leathers was also different from her own, which is a deep brown color like wet soil. However, there were no visible weapons in his person that she could detect.

Serath seemed to be a man in attending a royal ball with his chiselled jaw line and enchanted robes. There were no visible weapons on him either.

"You seem to be keenly observing us Elira, is something the matter?" Serath inquired when he noticed her curious looks.

"It's just... where are your weapons?" She asked as she couldn't figure it out.

"I don't need weapons," Theresa replied with light cadence while Gerund just grinned at her with full teeth and pointed at the ground below.

Serath was the only one who gave a satisfactory answer to her, "I am in possession of several weapons right now which I sealed in my own dimensional formations. I assume you are familiar with the concept of dimensional pockets?"

'A seeker of space, this man seems to be becoming more and more ridiculous.'

Elira was feeling that the company she was currently keeping seemed to be getting absurdly powerful by the second.

"Yes. But only those with the right talent, constitution, and blessings could command or create their own dimensions right?" She replied with slight irritation in her voice.

Serath just smiled at her annoyance and replied, "Yes, it was truly fortunate that I was born with a good constitution and had a good education upon my earlier years."

He seemed to be trying to make a point so she let him continue.

"Elira, you possess both of these. You inherited the Phasol Constitution from your ancestors, right? I am also positive that you underwent good education as it showed in the way you handle yourself. Give it time and you will surely bloom as a powerful demoness."

'This man is too smooth!' Elira blushed and her tail wagged -- just a bit -- at that; she would be considered as a rock if she didn't get affected by his compliments.

"It is said that the Phasol Demon Family are gifted in the way of the souls. What souls have you comprehended if I might ask?" Serath just continued on as if he didn't just say a line that would embarrass most people.

"I've comprehended quite a bit of souls: the Long-eared Rabbit to increase my hearing perception, Red-tailed Gorilla for strength, Crowned Eagle for eyesight, Yellow-Ringed Viper for poison resistance, and the most useful of them all, Shadow Cat that increased my balance, speed, and stealth talents." Elira listed some of the souls that she managed to resonate with, or in Serath's term: comprehended.

"I'm surprised that you didn't assume we 'eat' the souls of the creatures to gain their talents and abilities; it seemed to be the popular information that's going around." Elira didn't have many friends and she assumed it's because they're afraid she would eat their souls; not at all because of her personality.

"Our information network is a bit more reliable." Theresa was the one who answered her inquiry and continued, "The traveler haven't left the forest yet. I can't detect any energy and the creatures in my range don't remember seeing anything out of the ordinary."

Elira got a bit embarrassed that Theresa had been doing work while she just continued chatting with Serath. She looked around and noticed that even though the forest was enclosed inside the crescent-shaped mountain range, the mouth of the forest was still considerably huge.

'She couldn't have detected everything from here to the two ends... right?'

"I guess it's settled then, we enter the forest and make our way to the cliffs. Serath, barriers if you please. Elira, come, stay close to me so you don't get plucked by something in the forest." Gerund waved her over as he gave instructions to everyone.

The orbs of light appeared again, around the two of them this time, as Serath simultaneously applied barriers on them.

'I guess that's The Barrier Master for you. Effortlessly constructing a high-level barrier on two people with a fraction of the speed of everyone else.'

It wasn't Elira's first time having a barrier applied to her body. She remembered one of her more dangerous missions; she hired a barrier user then and she couldn't help but compare the experience.

After a few minutes, the lines finally brightened and then disappeared around her body. It was a neat trick as walking with glowing lines around her would be incredibly weird and impractical.

"It should be enough to fend off the attacks of most creature in the forest. Please take care as it is not indestructible and avoidance is still better than a blocked attack." Serath solemnly explained to her after he finished with the barriers.

"Can it block the attack of the Lesser Dragon in the area?" Elira inquired, wanting to know just how powerful The Barrier Master really was.

Serath gave her a look, that he knew what she was up to, but he still answered her question.

"A single strike of the dragon is possible but he won't be stopping with one, would he? Defensive formations are trickier than offensive ones as you have to make it as varied as possible without disturbing the target's own energy. I could enforce a city to withstand a barrage of attacks from a dragon but the same can't be said about applying it on moving creatures with their own distinct energy." Serath suddenly went on a lecture about formations and she actively listened as she could gain a lot from it.

'Maybe I'll be able to resonate with souls that have defensive talents'

"Defensive Formations could be dissected into the source, structure, upkeep, and target. The source would be the base of the formation, which would be my energy. The structure would be the means of to complete the formation and will determine how the barrier would behave itself, in my case, it would be runic languages. Upkeep would be how the barrier would maintain itself and how long before it expires. Lastly, the target's own energy should be considered lest they disturb the formations you created. It is a simplified explanation but that should suffice for the basics of it." Serath just smiled at her as he made his conclusion.

"Alright, enough lessons. Let's continue with the mission, it's possible that the traveler could be hanging onto their dear life right now." Gerund interrupted their conversation and just proceeded to walk inside the forest while they followed. After the three of them entered the forest, she could feel the environment take a drastic change in ambience.

The trees in the Ends Forest are all thousands of years old and they towered over them like giants. Their wide leaves and long branches covered the clouds that covered the sky; dimming their surroundings even further. There was no path to follow but the grass and shrubberies didn't seem to have the growth rate of the trees as they stayed at their knee level. She could feel the old souls of the trees as they traversed the forest; their patience, their stability, and their longevity whispering to her own soul.

Gerund took the helm while Serath protected their rear with her staying in the middle. She could feel being observed by several eyes and powerful souls; her own soul quivering from their hostility.

The man taking the lead didn't seem too concerned about their stalkers, although he didn't have the usual carefree attitude either. They just went walking undisturbed for the first half hour until one of their stalkers finally decided to jump the intruders.

A sudden movement on Elira's peripheral made her whole body tense and reflexively withdrew the katars from the straps on her back. The creature had been blurred to a shadow because of its speed, her perception too low to actually make the identity of the attacker.

She didn't know what it was but she knows that it was heading straight for her. She placed the weight of her body on the balls of her feet, poised to dodge when a sharp piece of hardened soil suddenly burst from the ground in front of her. It struck directly to the incoming shadow which had been made visible because it was impaled at the head by the soil. It was a dark green snake that had the width of a human's thigh; she didn't get to observe it for too long because multiple shadows suddenly burst through the trees on their right.

They were too fast for her to identify but not too fast for her to be helpless against. She knew the general direction the snakes are flying to so she could easily dodge and slice the oncoming snakes.

It's just that -- all the snakes were flying at her.

She did not have to worry for too long, as multiple spears made of hard soil erupted from the ground, impaling the oncoming attackers easily. She was about to give a sigh of relief when she saw where the snakes were coming from.

At first, she thought it was a huge shrubbery but it was rippling. It was a creature seemingly made from countless snakes; slithering, hissing, and knotting together until they form a giant ball made of pure abhorrence.

The ball of snakes was big; twice the height of Elira in diameter and it was slowly moving, rolling or crawling -- she didn't know, as she was not familiar with such disgusting creatures.

"It's a Snake-charmer Flower, we need to attack its core plant to completely kill it," Serath said calmly beside her.

'That damnation of a thing is a flower?'

Elira's instinct suddenly flared for survival as she detected a fast-moving object behind that made her turn around. However, Serath was faster than the attacker as he stood in front of her and the much -- much -- bigger snake, a circular object floating between him and the oncoming danger.

'A shield -- from his dimensional pockets?'

Serath struck the back of the glowing shield with his palm, and a barrier made of connected transparent hexagons suddenly appeared all over the three of them. The giant snake was moving too fast and struck directly against the barrier. The hexagon that was struck just dimmed at the collision but recovered almost immediately after it.

The giant snake crumpled and thrashed on the ground after hitting the shield but not for long. Serath immediately withdrew the barrier and threw the shield at it.

She was dumbstruck at the idea until she saw the shield cleanly slice the thrashing snake in two. Serath suddenly turned around, not bothering to retrieve the shield, and threw a dagger towards the knot of snakes, past her shoulders.

She followed the knife with her sight and notice that it was off-course; it was heading for the area way above the amalgamation of snakes. She didn’t have to wonder for long because just as it was above the creature, the knife suddenly produced a blinding light and Serath appeared beside it... with a gigantic hammer on both of his hands and he was poised for an overhead slam.

He struck the hammer down despite still being in the air, a circular formation appeared below him and it made a collision with the descending hammer. A deafening bang sounded at the impact and a sonic boom appeared around the circular formation, yet somehow, it stayed unmoving in its position.

The ball of snakes below suddenly exploded to bits and pieces; their skins, innards, and blood flying in all directions.

Fortunately, the creature was a far distance away from them and they didn't have to suffer the sudden rain of guts.

Serath was standing on the floating circular formation, robes still as clean as when she first met him. He looked down upon his work; the flattened piece of land and dead snakes beneath his feet, a slight smile on his face.

Elira then made a promise to herself: to never -- ever -- piss him off again.

End of Chapter 4