Ch.X-2 ¤ The Nightmare Returns (B)

This wasn't going anywhere.

I stopped my wild chase suddenly, my patience for aimless things having ran out. It wasn't good enough to give it my all, I needed to do this smartly rather than rashly. I barely paid any attention to the environment around me as I changed my plans on dime, the tall hedges meaning nothing to me.

It was easy to muster up the energy I needed; the power of this mad realm flowing all around me was like an all-you-can-eat buffet of magical force ripe for the taking; if you didn't mind the fact that it all tasted like Sorrows and was probably very bad for your health. Personally I was already used to pain, so the phantom feelings that flowed through me as I reached out for ethereal treads were familiar. I closed my eyes and the noise filled my mind as tiny, spider-like strands of the raw stuff of Unreality wrapped around my fingers and wrists.

Everything was a mess at first. Dozens of voices trying to crush one another in a horrible cacophony of screams, desperate pleas and hateful curses against life itself; dozens of pictures trying to supplant one another like as many semi-transparent TV screens merging together in one indescribable, unreadable mess.

STOP.

The noise refused to calm down even as I tried to bend it to my will, but the most distant voices vanished, leaving the ensemble slightly less sickeningly disorienting. With them, they took the images associated with their essence. I remained motionless and slowly, one by one, nine orange flames lit up around me, each at roughly equal distance of one another and one or two meter away from me. I could not see them just yet, but I could sense the heat and hear the cracking of their embers.

I focused my thoughts, shooing away the part of my brain that joined with the voices to scream at me how much of a retard I was for starting this ritual without properly checking my surroundings first. For all I knew, seconds might still matter, so it was a sacrifice of recklessness I was prepared to make. She was here. I knew she was here. I could definitely sense her presence now, somewhere far away... Now if I could only put the finger on where...

As I opened my eyes, the noises and images stopped, as if siphoned by the Warpfire. Within each flame, a solitary memory of an unknown source was held for me to observe more carefully. I could not move without breaking the treads, so the Flames moved for me. slowly, they rotated as one, keeping their perfect circle as they moved, and I peered deep into the orange blazes. Suddenly, a gruesome snapping sound caught my attention along with a sudden surge of pain. The pain itself was enough to tell me that it was my right shoulder, which had spontaneously dislocated from the magical feedback flowing into me from the strands of memories. I would have to take care of this immediately.

But for now I still had a bitch to find. The flames rotated faster and faster until they abruptly stopped. As I looked into the flame that stopped before me I knew instinctively this was the location I wanted. I knew that was where she was:

Some sort of large, tall building of some description filled to the brim with Daemon creatures with goat-like features.

...

Well that didn't help me at all, there's hundreds of those in this damned place!

I let the treads retreat to the fabric of the realm and brought my left hand to catch the dying sparks of the flame before me as it shattered.

It was faint, but I managed to catch scent of the trail. It would be difficult to explain what I meant by that because this pocket hell disregarded the logics and laws of the real world so much that sometimes senses became jumbled and mixed up. I couldn't have found words good enough to describe the feeling of "hearing" colors or "tasting" the bitter touch of cold even if I had been on acid, and I can be quite wordy when I'm on acid.

I barely had enough time to acknowledge my new destination before some sort of whip raked my back with surprising strength and made me stagger, bringing my attention back to the Unreality around me. I would have told myself 'told you so', but I already had enough issues without adding 'talking to myself like a schizophrenic bitch' to the list.

The maze of hedges around me had come alive, as if the whole quivering vegetal mass was one, single, malevolent consciousness. It was probably part of a Witch, so that was more likely than not close to the truth. I had to dance to avoid the onslaught that followed; dozens of large vine-like tendrils covered in thorns flailed and struck out at me with no pattern or logic to observe. I brought my left hand to my right shoulder and snapped it back into place as I continued to whirl and leap through the assaults of the vegetal demon. Once this issue resolved, I looked out for options.

 My first reaction would have been to jump and get out of this maze to get a top view and take a shortcut, but it turns out while I was focused on my spell the giant hedges have grown to easily a hundred meters, which threw that option out the window. I had no choice but to fight my way through this maze... which was the absolute last goddamned thing I wanted to have to do when I was on a timer like this.

Fuck it. Fuck this thing, fuck it to oblivion. Everything that stands between me and her will BURN. I'll obliterate it all.

The familiar scent of brimstone pleased me as it filled my nostrils, the energy it heralded coating my claws warmly. Mere seconds later it was unleashed; a purple Hellfire that set the ground around me ablaze and incinerated the vines foolish enough to try to hit me through them.

Everything will burn and turn to ashes.

The vegetal mass produced some sort of inhuman, disembodied scream as more purple flames  seared though the hedge closest to me, leaving nothing in its wake but black ashes and a charred hole around the point of the impact of my projectile.  I proceeded through onto a path that led straight in the direction I wanted.

The vines never stopped trying to grasp at me; trying to ensnare me, but it was futile. Thorns grazed and grazed, but nothing held. I was just too fast for it and what tried to block my path was ripped  by either my claws or teeth. I've never had Witch-greens before. I expected it to have a different  texture at least, but it tastes the same as flesh. So much for 'eat your veggies', but that's fine too. It's actually not bad at all once you get used to the after-taste.

I had hoped I could just avoid the Witch's main body, but it seemed like the center of the Labyrinth was dead ahead. On second thought, I could probably use the additional Grief Seeds. There was no way to tell how long I was going to be here nor how my Soul Gem would react to certain... stimuli. This thing would pay for getting in my way.

As I closed the distance, the maze started to shift and change, as if trying to interdict passage. Several layers' worth grew out to block the path but I incinerated right through and charged in ahead. The hedges tried to close behind  and in front of me to trap me inside, but it was a futile gesture since I could just--

what?

A number of different vines, smaller and thornless ones, all converged on me. This time I didn't have enough space to move to avoid them all and many pierced right through while others coiled around my limbs. I immediately tore through but I could already feel the harm was done; poison was starting to sap my strength. Another horde of vines was generated by the vegetal mass and flew right back at me, putting me back in my precarious situation despite the swipes of my claws slicing down many. This was going to be a problem.

I gritted my teeth when a dozen more green needles stabbed through my body, but I'd be damned if 'id let this pathetic creature do me in now. I let it play its game with its poison and think I was growing weak and harmless, but its sadistic ways would be a fatal flaw as I closed  my claws into fists and built up magic within. The process took no more than 10 seconds, but with the assortment of poisons numbing at my senses and the complete darkness I was in, it felt like more. Isn't it peculiar how even while looking like non-sentient beasts, Witches like this can still savour inflicting pain on others?

Another disembodied, out of this world shriek resounded as I immolated myself and everything else in a large radius, reducing my entire vegetal prison to ashes. The Hedge seemed to "recoil" in pain, temporarily stunned and making no attacks. This was fortunate, because my own body didn't make it unscathed either; my kimono had been destroyed and most of my skin was burned. My regeneration kicked in as I reached into my inventory for my Rose, flicking the container open and taking an extra-strong dose to counteract the poison.

My body flinched and recoiled as well. The drug wasn't an antidote, far from it, so instead of "curing" the poisons, it was more like having two hostile unnatural substance fighting for control over your body by flooding it with complete opposite effects. Not a very good solution, but it'd have to do for now.

I shoved the metal container right back into my Inventory and moved on. The Witch was still writhing from my last trick so I needed to seize the initiative even though my body would still take a bit longer to heal those burns.

I sprinted, giving all my speed into getting through the last of the maze despite my body's protests. Learning to ignore those were one of the first things any Eversor needed to do anyway. That was especially true when you were a Monat with no teammates to rely on to save your ass when you get in trouble.

The gates opened of their own and the sight I was greeted by was a particularly nasty one. Untold numbers of giant and mutated plant life were fused into one deformed and senseless abomination that would actually be worthy of the "indescribable Eldritchian horror" label medias seem to be so fond of nowadays. What really struck me though were the roots. Giant, impossibly large, half-exposed quivering roots that reached outwards from the central room. As I saw them I finally understood; the entire labyrinth IS the Witch's body.

A gaping maw opened from one of the twisted monstrosity's sides and it puked out what I could only describe as a torrent of acidic bile in my general direction. I managed to jump high enough to avoid the bulk of it, but some splashes hit my legs with a sickening sizzle. And I had just healed that too, bastard... I landed on my hands because the inner damage to my legs wouldn't let them support my weight until they were healed. I immediately pushed, propelling myself back into the air and adjusting to an upside down vision.

A lone tendril much larger than the previous ones -large enough to break my body in half if it hit - surged forth from the main body of the Witch while I was in mid-air, but my claws went through its mass like butter, cleaving it into impotent halves while I prepared my magic. With my legs too damaged to stand and my hands thus busy I had to improvise and gathered mana by my feet. They were damaged, but not too damaged for me to find them a use.

As I landed once more on my hands I flung forward two bolts of volatile energy with my feet, using my legs' remaining muscles. I was unbalanced by the endeavor and narrowly avoided falling forward flat before I pushed again and returned to mid-air. The attack didn't do much damage to the thing's sheer mass, but it bought me time as the Witch brought forward a thick weave of vines to shield itself. I repeated the process two more times before I was finally able to land on my feet once more, my regeneration having handled the acid by then.

The green mass belched some sort of distorted roar as it  dispersed its blackened weave-shield. several more maw-like appendages rose from the main body in the twisted image of giant, bastardized versions of carnivorous plants filled with more rows of teeth than the nastiest of sharks. It was in times like this that I missed my old chainaxe. My claws could pierce nearly anything with ease, but they lacked the raw destructive power to just mow sheer mass and bulk down expediently.

I didn't have much time for regret as the ground I had been standing on mere fractions of seconds earlier was now filled with a giant mess of green cells and teeth that chewed at the soil with a disgusting noise punctuated by suctions. I landed onto it and sliced it open before getting back in motion. The giant appendages chased me, trying to corner me as they lashed and trashed, but I had recovered enough by now to keep them at bay, detonating or slashing down one whenever I had the chance. I managed to win some ground inwards, making my way towards the central body as I kept the appendages bu--

Darkness.

Ok what the fuck. How does this damn Witch keeps managing to blindside me like that, it's getting embarrassing. No, more importantly than that, why the fuck does it keep trying to eat me? Can't it see I'm not edible? If this stupid thing tries to eat me one more time I swear on the Blessed Lady's holy bosom I'm going to have Grief Salad tonight.

More acid rained down onto my body as I detonated another Doombolt inside the death trap of a flower but I paid it no mind. At this point my whole body had been wrecked three times over and reached far past the point where lesser Magical Girls would have been long dead, but injuries meant nothing when you had a goal that you were ready to lay down your life for.

I could feel the magic flowing literally through my body as it held me together and fueled my body, replacing tissue and tendons where they had melted. I had enough of this Witch, so I prepared a grand finale for it. My speed increased, further fueled by Empyrean energies as I weaved through more of the vegetal abomination's defenses and finally reached directly above its towering mass, baleful powers flaming upon my claws.

"If you want me this badly then HAVE SOME YOU SHIT!"

It opened its giant, primary maw and I dove, only to unleash a few seconds later utter destruction from within. Bolt after bolt after bolt, I continued with a vengeful fury until the Witch was nothing but charred stains across the central room and at the height of which I almost lost myself to destructive frenzy... and hunger...

I replenished my Grief Seed stash as the Barrier fell apart and I only now realized my... lack of any clothing whatsoever. My body had been burned so much that not even a single shred of my kimono remained. This wouldn't have bothered me all that much, but I was unable to head back to get a new one. I had to press forward... but on the flip side I couldn't let her see me like that.  Not after all this time. Not after she probably forgot about me. I couldn't just stroll up to her stark naked she'd think I was some kind of fucked up sexual devi-- ok maybe I -am- that but I still have standards.

I needed to find some sort of solution and FAST. My mind raced to try to come up with something, but kept drawing blanks, the stress helping no one. Urgency and frustration rose when the seconds became minutes and I grew increasingly impatient, boiling inside at my own inability to find something, until finally I was inspired.

Ribbons.

Of course, I had heard stories that she could craft all sorts of things from her ribbons so if I tried to apply the same logic, then perhaps, just perhaps, while I'm in here...

Strands and treads of Unreality were pried apart by my fingertips and weaved themselves together, almost as if they had a mind of their own, guided by the designs in the back of my mind. When I looked back down it looked like I was clad in a Barrier, literally. The cloth was iridescent  and colors flowed across it like the reflections of the skies on a body of water. Honestly, it was beautiful, entrancingly so,  and I had to take several second to manage to pry my eyes away.

But I had wasted so much time already, I needed to hurry and reach  my  destination before the trail grew too cold.