Say what you will about the Crystallites. They knew how to pick ambush spots well.
Crossing through the meadow, Giu was greeted by an entire ecosystem thriving from under the waterfalls. Sections of moss grew like trees, ivy hanging off to welcome various insects. Directly above was a canopy of water, the liquid hovering as if there were a sheet of metal holding it in place. Tea’s gem shined as they looked at it all, Giu giving the air a quick sniff.
As expected. He couldn’t smell anything beyond the water-drenched flora.
“Gi,” Tea whispered.
The pixie flicked an ear to the side, Giu watching from the corner of his eye as a figure ducked out of view.
“How many you think are here?” he asked.
Another peaked out from one of the moss trees, the white mask they wore unmistakable.
“I counted twelve already,” Tea said. “Probably more waiting ahead.”
He nodded.
James was still acting the part of their guide despite everything. Did he know too or was he just that oblivious? Either way, Giu chose to play along for the time being.
Wherever Immy was, the Crystallites were the only ones who seemed to be on top of her whereabouts. Always showing up where her friends were. Silencing Juzia before she could tell them too much. If finding Immy meant having to spring their trap, then it was a small price to pay.
And in the event it was all a lie, he was more than happy to let Tea run wild with tsuchluyavans. Maybe he’d even join them in the fun.
“Twenty,” Tea said.
James came to a sudden stop, his ears rising.
“Something up?” Giu asked, doing his best to ignore another masked figure poking his head out the ground.
James shook his head.
“It’s no good,” he said. “We’re on the right path, but it’s hard to tell for certain.”
“Really? Weird.”
James nodded, his eyes scanning about.
“Perhaps I’ll try scouting ahead,” he said. “I’ll be back once I’ve secured the route.”
The two partners looked to each other.
“Sounds good with me,” Giu said. “Tea?”
“Just try not to take too long.”
James nodded, offering a wave before rounding a corner and taking off. It was as good an indication as any for Giu.
“Yeah, this is definitely a trap,” he whispered to Tea.
“Agreed.”
The pixie’s ears twitched.
“And it looks like they’re finally coming.”
Giu caught sight of masked figures moving through the moss trees. Of them crawling along the ground, using mushrooms and foliage for cover. As he spotted more and more, he felt an intense pain in his head. Like someone was punching his brain.
“Stay close, Gi,” Tea said. “That feline was actually telling the truth.”
The headache dissipated, Giu rubbed his temples as he saw Tea pulling out a knife.
“A lot of them really are mystics,” the pixie said.
Giu let the magic envelop his body. The multiple assailants seemed to completely forgo stealth then.
An arrow whizzed by, Tea ducking while Giu narrowed on the shooter. The several bows drawn gave him the briefest shock, but he put up his arms to block a rain of missiles.
“Get the canine! Kill the pixie!” a voice shouted from somewhere, making all the Crystallites leap into action.
Both partners broke away, vines springing out of the ground snapping at them.
“T, take care of this will ya’!”
He pulled off Immy’s sword, tossing it Tea’s way. If it was time to fight there was no use trying to protect it. Tea vanished it away before flying into the air.
“Tsuchluyavan!”
A swath of fire burned along the moss, several shooters igniting though even more managed to get away, coming out of cover to shoot and charge the duo respectively.
For a supposed trap, they weren’t very well coordinated. The archers seemed to shoot at random intervals, some targeting him while others went for Tea. Yet every charging Crystalite made Giu a target.
“You’re in our way!” Giu shouted, smashing masks with reckless abandon. “Spill it! Which one of you knows where Immy is?”
All he received were angry shouts and pained grunts. Something he responded to by making holes in as many Crystallites as possible.
“Tell me!”
He smashed a guy through a mossy tree.
“Tell me!”
Down went some lady with a spear.
“Where is Im-“
“Gah!”
He whipped around, the cry of a pixing drawing his attention away.
Tea was flying through the air with multiple arrows on their trail. All of which seemed to hone in on them like birds in the hunt. Giu quickly grabbed the nearest Crystallite he could, using them as a living projectile. One which Tea seemed to recognize and take full advantage of.
“Woah!”
They picked up speed enough to fly past the incoming man. Giu smiled as several arrows hit the Crystallite shield instead.
“Thanks, Gi,” Tea said.
“Anytime.”
He turned his attention back to the others, whose numbers seemed to have thinned out considerably.
Most of their so-called attackers were writhing in pain, unconscious, or burning alive. And still not one of them had told him a thing about Immy. Would they have to take out the whole organization first or something?
Giu cracked his knuckles.
“Right. Better punch first, ask questions later. Tea, you alright up there?”
The pixie didn’t respond. They were too busy avoiding more arrowfire. He shrugged.
“Alright.” A smile crept over his lips. “Hey, Crystallites! Tells us where Immy is or I break every bone in and each and every person with a mask on.”
No responses. Not even the angry grunts this time. Giu shrugged.
“Suit yourself.”
His eyes fell on the nearest shooter, an arrow bouncing off his hardened skull.
“You’ll be first!”
They tensed. Giu didn’t give the guy a chance to run, closing the distance in one quick sprint. And stomping right through their body.
“Huh?”
The shooter vanished into a fog of black.
“Where are you looking, Gustav?”
He whirled at the voice, which sounded like it was only inches from his ears. But when he turned around, he didn’t see anyone. Just the same Crystallite-strewn battlefield. The same pixie avoiding arrows.
“Always the violence with your family.”
He whipped around again to the same result. The exact same result.
The Crystallites were strewn around the battlefield. Tea was avoiding arrows. The voice echoed right next to ear despite no one being there. He tried to look forward, only to see the phenomenon repeated in that direction. In every direction.
“We thought you wanted to see her Yisto.”
He felt the ground shift around him, light flooding his vision.
Crap.
He covered his face but felt the pain anyhow. To the point that it took a few moments for his vision to return. For him to realize where he was.
“We thought you came to see her, Yisto Gustav,”
He felt his chest tighten. The chasm around him had disappeared.
Instead, a vast expanse of flowers was strewn about, leading up to a collection of shadowed limbs emerging from the ground. A woman dangling at the end of them. Between the sight of her and the all too familiar scent on the wind, Giu could barely form the words to call out. To speak to the fox in front of him.
“I-Immy.”
He ran over to her. Or at least he wanted to, but his legs refused to move. Nor did his arms for the matter.
In fact, why did it seem as if he was getting further and further away from her. Like the tree was moving on its own.
“Is she that important to you, Yisto Gustav?”
He looked back at the voice, only to find more flowers. The waterfalls that fell around them. He couldn’t even smell whoever’s scent it was that spoke to him. Or his own. Or Tea’s. The only scent he could make out was Immy’s. Even so, the voice continued as if it was right next to him.
“Do you even know her, Yisto?” it asked. “Do you even know who you are?”
He looked back to Immy. The shadows, along with the body of the fox were all retracting into the ground. Melting into a puddle of blackness.
“Don’t you know, Yisto?” the voice asked. “Don’t you want to know?”
