Caelum listened closely to their explanations, keeping quiet and calm with little expression on his face. Elio, however, was the opposite, and he reacted to every little thing they said. Caelum opened his mouth to speak, but Elio interrupted him. "Wow, that's super cool! I can use electricity and light and stuff like that, and Cae has… uh…"
"Umbrakinesis. I can remove shadows, hide in them, create weapons out of them, et cetera, et cetera… it's versatile." Caelum shrugged a bit. "Since all the plants are making it pretty dark, I should be able to do something."
"I read umbrakinesis is pretty useful at dispelling magical illusions," Aurelius said, "So if that's what they are, your power would make that part of the job a lot easier. I could also wither them if not. Once we get past that, I'm really not sure what's lurking in there, other than those monsters."
"Well, then, shall we get started?" Felix suggested, "There's only one way to find out what's in there."
"Alright. Guess I'll try first?" Aurelius replied, "Stand back, I don't want anyone to get hurt."
He took a shaky breath and raised his hands, where a very dark aura appeared. With a sweep of his hands in front of him, he sent a wave of black magic forth, which ate through some of the vines and branches to reveal so many more than he would have expected.
Aurelius stepped back and lowered his hands, a frown etched onto his face.
"There has to be a better way. I can cut a path, but to take down much of this would drain me beyond what I can handle."
Caelum examined the damage thoughtfully. "Well, they don't appear to be illusions, but I suspect there's still a lot of magical influence. If I could dispel some of that, then the plants may shrink and become easier to destroy. It'll drain my energy, but I think I can do it." He hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head slightly to the side. Elio was trying to think as well.
"I could help." He said after a minute. "Plants have a lot of electrons in them that help them grow and stuff. These massive ones probably have a lot. Since I can control electricity, I could theoretically draw out all of that, which also might make them shrink."
"Or I could just start a controlled forest fire and someone could do damage control," Felix suggested, "I know we're trying to minimize collateral, but since we will likely have to fight once we get in there, it wouldn't do much good for someone to drain their energy right off the bat."
"That's quite… the opposite of what we should probably do. Even if we do manage to confine it to the park, the park will be unusable."
"The park's already unusable. They can replace landscaping and benches and shit. Can't replace the lives that have been lost. But like I said, it's only a suggestion. One of many."
"We need to be careful." Caelum said, opening his eyes to look up at the plants. "There's a possibility that there are people or animals trapped inside. If we try to release an uncontrollable forest fire, they would be killed. Even if it takes a little longer, we should go about this in a safer way, just to make sure there are no casualties." Elio groaned a bit.
"God, English please." He whined, making Caelum roll his eyes once again.
"Fire bad. Might kill people." He said stiffly, to which Elio nodded.
"Thank you. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Ugh…"
"Fair enough. I say there's a slim chance that anything in there is alive, but a slim chance is still a chance. And I'm not so keen on the idea of killing people for no reason," Felix agreed.
"How much would the electron manipulation take out of you?" Aurelius asked Elio, "We could alternate between your powers, and save everyone's energy in the process. We just need to have enough in us to be prepared for combat once we cut through."
"Well, if I draw it out of the plants and into myself… I could last a while." Elio hummed thoughtfully, still looking up at the plants. "After a while, though, I could end up burning myself from the electricity." He shrugged a bit and Caelum nodded.
"I can go a while without passing out." Caelum said quietly. "But it does still strain my body. But with four of us, we should be able to handle it."
"Right. Let's get started," Aurelius agreed, "Felix?"
"I'll be on standby in case any ghouls attack," he said, "Let's also keep an eye out for anything strange in the meantime. There has to be something hidden in there."
Caelum and Elio headed forward into the plants and held their hands out, using their respective powers to begin shrinking the plants around them. Elio was glowing lightly, and a thin veil of darkness surrounded Caelum's body.
(I feel like I should throw someone else in aha)
Behind the other two, Aurelius withered the plants away, taking deep breaths to keep in control. He found his hands shaking a little bit as he pressed forwards.
"Seems to be working well," Felix said with a smile, but that smile soon fell when he heard faint snarling drawing closer.
It was just one ghoul for now, so he was able to take it on as it lunged towards Elio. Flames spilled out from his fingertips, and he was able to redirect the creature towards himself so he could take a swing at it with his blade and finish it off.
(That's fine with me! You could make them trapped in the little "jungle" somewhere or something maybe? Uhhh I have no plans, idk exactly what's in there 😂 Maybe a weird sinkhole, and there's like a tunnel leading to something? I just don’t know what that something is or who's behind it tbh. Just making things up as I go, and you’re more than welcome to do the same.)
(Alright aha)
Elio dodged out of the way when the ghoul came towards him, huffing as though offended. He continued working, however, steadily shrinking the plants alongside Caelum. As they cleared more of the forest, they could hear some shuffling and barking further in. Azel, in his fox form, was attempting to jump out of a hole he was stuck in. He growled in frustration, unable to jump quite high enough to get out.
"Someone lose their dog in there?" Felix asked, glancing around a bit, "Or we got a different monster on our hands?"
"That," Aurelius replied, "Could honestly be a number of things. We'd be lucky if it was a little puppy. Doesn't sound that far ahead though. Maybe there's a break in the foliage up here?"
As the trio kept working through the plants, there was eventually a gap. And a steep drop-off. Neither Aurelius nor Felix could immediately see what was at the bottom.
Azel continued trying to climb up the wall, but it was far too steep for him to make much progress. He barked again, although it sounded a little different than a dog. Elio came up to the edge and lit up the hole with his powers so they could see what was at the bottom. "Looks like a fox. Should we try and get it out?" He asked. Caelum hummed thoughtfully.
"Yeah, probably. It'll die if we leave it stuck down there." He said softly, peering down into the hole as well.
"Yeah, might as well," Felix agreed, "It doesn't look dangerous or anything. Looks like it's trying to escape, even. Any ideas? I can't see much, and if I use my powers, I'll just burn the poor thing."
"Unless someone else can use their powers, we might have to find a long branch to lower," Aurelius suggested, "I can't exactly create a way up either."
Felix also used his magic to shed additional light into the hole, peering over the edge a bit. He glanced around the divot in the ground.
"Sinkhole? That's… strange."
Azel could hear people talking and shifted back into a person, his ears twitching a bit. He looked up, his hands up against the side of the hole. "Hello?" He called up awkwardly. Caelum looked down again, bewildered upon finding that the fox had disappeared and seemed to have been replaced by a person instead.
"I might be able to make steps of some sort or if the shadows." Caelum said quietly. "That would be a pretty easy way to get him out."
Felix startled when the fox transformed, but it wasn't unusual, just unexpected.
"Sounds like our best bet," Aurelius said, turning to Caelum, "Go ahead and do it, if you'd like."
Felix kept an eye on what was going on below. He could've sworn he saw movement, or at least shadows fall across the ground below. He frowned a bit.
"Hey, I think there's something else down there. Let's hurry if we can. They might be in danger."
"Right… just a second." Caelum stepped out into the hole, but strangely, his foot didn't fall. He just stayed suspended in the air. He started stepping downwards, creating a winding staircase of sorts out of the shadows. He soon reached the bottom and got Azel to follow him back up. Elio examined the fox boy curiously once the two of them were out of the hole.
Snarls and screeches rang out from the hole as a pack of ghouls ran to where Azel had just been. Felix winced at the thought of that poor fox boy getting eaten alive.
"Who are you?" Aurelius asked, "And more importantly, how did you get down there? Did you see anything? We're-"
"Ah, give 'em a break already, Auri. Let the poor kid catch their breath before you start interrogating," Felix complained, "Easy does it. First of all, are you alright?"
Felix turned his gaze from his friend to the fox boy in front of them.
"Uh…" Azel froze up a bit when he was suddenly bombarded with questions, his attention on the ghouls in the hole. He could easily be dead. "I'm fine…" He replied when he was finally able to take a breather. "Thanks for helping me. The ground just sort of… gave out. I think it got loose and weak because of all the roots from these plants."
"That's good," Felix said, giving Azel a smile and a nod, "We're on a commission to take care of, well, this… whatever this is. If you know anything, we'd be grateful for the help. But I also understand if you'd want to be on your way."
Aurelius stared down into the hole, where Felix still held a gentle glow.
"The nest couldn't be down there, right? It looks too hard for them to climb back up, unless there's another exit," he said, thinking out loud, "We ought to keep looking around this hole, so if there is a nest, we don't go down there and get ambushed."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're getting way ahead of yourself. Who said we were going down there?"
"Well, I can try and help, but my power isn't all that helpful…" Azel looked down into the hole, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. "I can shift into a fox, but that's about it. It's good for sneaking around and stuff, but I'm weaker and smaller like that…" He hummed thoughtfully. "I thought I saw some ghouls heading back to that left corner before I fell, though."
"Thanks," Felix replied, "We'll head that way then. If you want to help us with scouting, you can. But then again, you've no obligation to help us. It is pretty dangerous out here. But between the rest of us, I think we've got the fighting under control at least."
"Right…" Aurelius said pensively, "So if the nest is that direction, what do we do?"
"Wait for them to trickle out, and once we've thinned them out, I can smoke out the nest," Felix suggested.
"I can try and help. I can scout ahead and help you figure out where they are." Azel shrugged. "I'm faster than the ghouls are as a fox, so I wouldn't have to worry as much about getting caught." Caelum nodded a bit as he listened.
"Alright. You can do that if you want to. Be careful, though. We don't want anyone getting hurt." He said softly, to which Elio nodded.
"Yeah! He always gets super pissed when I'm 'reckless' and get myself hurt."
"Hey! Me too!" Aurelius chuckled, pointing at Felix.
"Good fucking god, Auri. It's almost like throwing your life away isn't funny," Felix sighed, rolling his eyes, "Anyway, you can- I don't believe we got your name? But you can draw the ghouls out to us if you'd like as you scout. If things get dangerous, you can pull back."
"Oh, sorry… my name is Azel." He replied, a slight smirk on his face. "I'll… uh… I'll go do that. There should be some ghouls here soon, so keep an eye out." They shifted into a fox and ran off through the trees to find the ghouls. Caelum sighed softly, running his fingers through his hair.
"At least this guy isn't an idiot. Eli's always trying to get himself killed." Elio stuck his tongue out playfully.
"Am not! I just like to live life to the fullest!"
"Well, if you keeping 'living life to the fullest', you won't have a life to live!"
"If only-" Aurelius started.
Felix cleared his throat in warning to the other.
"Alright, let's prepare for combat," Felix said, trying to push away from any further conflict, "Like Caelum said, we are going to be careful. The less injuries we leave this place with, the better. With any luck, these ghouls should be all we have to face, but I have a feeling that's not the case."
Felix poised to fight, watching and listening carefully ahead, where Azel had gone. Aurelius eventually decided to take to his side, pulling out a long blade from its sheathe on his hip.
Soon, muffled screeching from the forest started growing louder. Caelum formed a sword for himself out of the shadows and held tightly to it, changing his stance so he'd be prepared to fight. Elio started sparking, and soon, electricity was traveling across his body. Azel dashed through the trees behind the others, tailed by a few ghouls.
Felix saw Azel tear through the trees, and he ran in between the fox and ghouls so he could protect the other.
Flames descended from the arc he cast with his hand, and he seared the ghoul closest to Azel.
Aurelius wasn't too far behind. He ran a hand down his sword, allowing his aura to surround its length. With that, he was able to inflict decay and finish the job with a clean sword slice, all in one go. Two of the ghouls came after him. He was a little frightened. He felt swarmed. Unprepared. Yet he was able to dodge any attacks despite his panic and with a few swings of his blade, he was eventually able to take both out.
Caelum jumped into action as well, destroying a couple of ghouls with his sword. Elio ran forward into the mix, electrocuting more oncoming ghouls. He clearly had very little regard for his own safety. Azel was panting softly, hiding behind a tree while still in fox form. He didn't have any weapons, so he figured he'd be pretty useless to the actual fighting at the moment.
Felix pushed deeper into the fray.
"Think they're on the right track," he panted, cutting down another monster, "This is an awful lot of- oof!"
A ghoul came from Felix's side and lashed a claw out, catching his arm. He retaliated, burning up the wretched creature in a fiery inferno.
"Felix!" Aurelius cried out, stumbling to get closer to his friend.
"Watch your own back. I'm fine!"
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