Fantasy Mission for Replacement Heroes

[Damafaud]

A scene came into play as your vision grew dark.
A scene came into view as your world grew dark.

​

Objects of identical volume could possess different mass due to a difference in their density. Although their volume might be identical, how could the space they occupied be? Density referred to the number of atoms occupying a certain space. Therefore, an object of larger mass occupied a larger space, despite its volume being smaller than the other object.

Why did this matter? It actually didn't.

An eagle carried a small scroll between its claws. The scroll, carried by the eagle, did not deviate from any of the world's law. It had a mass. It occupied a space. It was created by magic. Nothing was truly out of sort. The eagle flew through the sky that did not consist of only oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide and soon hovered above a tree that did not completely adhere the world's law. The eagle released the scroll, and the scroll fell.

It was a short drop from the eagle's hold to the top of the tree. The scroll fell gently, slowly heading toward its target.

An unusual squirrel was sitting on the top of the tree that did not completely adhere to the world's law. The squirrel appeared completely identical to a common hazelnut coloured squirrel. If not for the tusk sprouting out of its temple and the gleam of intelligence in his eyes, the squirrel would be completely normal. It was a short distance from the top of the tree to the eagle's hold. The squirrel waited patiently for the scroll, as it was the target of the scroll.

The scroll fell gently. The squirrel waited patiently. The scroll, naturally, should fell gently to the hand of the squirrel who waited patiently.

Then the space distorted. A phenomenon that bend the world's law stopped the scroll midair. The squirrel tilted its head, perplexed by this development. A black blur suddenly burst out of the space distortion. Its sudden movement grazed the scroll, but the slight touch sent the scroll flying toward the squirrel like a fireball spell toward its target. The scroll didn't change its trajectory. The squirrel didn't move. Naturally, the scroll hit the squirrel right at the base of his horn and rendered the squirrel unconscious.

Lunar Cat
Yggdrasil's Branch of Asgard
Necessity4Fun ​

The world Yggdrasil occupied did not have a sun, but it was nonetheless always bright. The World Tree had only a few residents including the eagle who had dropped a scroll and Ratatoskr, the squirrel who tried to catch the scroll. Yggdrasil held a world at the end of its majestic nine branches, holding a grand total of nine worlds above its trunk. Occasionally, a resident of these world would come to Yggdrasil to reach the other worlds by climbing its trunk and branches.

Asgard was the home world of the Gods. Its branch was located closest to the top of Yggdrasil. At the particular moment, the Branch of Asgard was not devoid of visitors, as two non-resident of Yggdrasil had occupied a space there.

The first visitor was a cat. Its fluffy fur was completely black, gleaming healthily under the light of Yggdrasil. Its black pupils showed a star-shaped sigil, flickering on and off as if in a trance. The black cat was sitting on a figure. Naturally, the figure was the second visitor. The visitors mind their own business for a while. The figure stayed still, the cat sat on the figure's chest with light flickering on its eyes.

Blue light poured out of the cat's eyes. As light receded from its eyes, the cat jumped down from the figure. The figure started to wake up.

"When he flew through the skies of the worlds, the eagle saw Resseu, Empress Dowager of Ixora Colony amassing her soldiers in Svartálfr to steal the Fruit of the World Tree. If that happens, she will have enough power to contend against the Gods of Asgard. The scroll was for the squirrel Ratatoskr to deliver to the Serpent Níðhöggr at the roots of Yggdrasil."

The cat stopped, giving the figure some time to process the information.

"You see, this is supposed to be easily solved by the scroll, but Ratatoskr fainted and I can't deliver it myself for a complicated reason, so... I decide to kidnap someone else to do it. Think of this like a quest! With glory at the end of victory, and the weight of countless souls on the other. I even have a quest log!"

A translucent screen appeared in front of the figure's view.

Emergency Quest: Ratatoskr' Substitute

Quest Objectives:

• Deliver the Scroll of Warning in the place of Ratatoskr to the Serpent Níðhöggr at the roots of Yggdrasil
• Prevent the Arachnid Army of Empress Dowager Resseu from stealing the Fruit of the World Tree

Failure Conditions:

• The loss of the Fruit of the World Tree
• The death of Ratatoskr
• The destruction of Yggdrasil

Quest Rewards:

• One-way Home Ticket
• Satisfaction and glory of doing virtuous deeds
• The privilege of petting a Lunar Cat (belly-rubbing might be possible)

"I think really hard on what rewards is appropriate for this occasion," boasted the cat proudly. Its little face showed a smug smile, as if it had done a great charity to the world. It suddenly leaped off the ground, staring the figure right in the eyes as the cat floated in air. With magic.

"What do you think?"

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
By the Yggdrasil tree, apparently?

Mood: Disbelief and annoyance,
with a pinch of nervousness

Damafaud​

The newest toy sensation, some fancy device, maybe a vacation, these were the sort of things that would be on a person's general Christmas wishlist. If someone asked Sage what he wanted though, they'd probably be taken by surprise of such a seemingly simple request: A normal morning.

Unluckily for our unsuspecting hero, today was not the day his wish was going to be listened to by the Gods...

"Oh no, not again..."

For the third time in a row, the teenager would suddenly find himself in strange lands. The first time, the door to a classroom had led to an interdimensional hotel of sorts where instead of a nice break, an employee would decide to go on a rampage. The second time he had gone searching for spiritual council and ended up signing up a suspicious contract to 'offer his services', though it was basically slavery. Now he was waking up in an unknown clearing, with a black cat on top on him... Sage could only sigh, foreseeing that his butt was once more being dragged into someone else's situation.

You know, just for once, he wanted to actually get up the morning and get to college without any end of the universe type of crisis happening. He wondered if the higher beings watching over his world would ever allow anything like this to pass... It was getting really hard to make believable excuses for the missed classes! ...Also, his grades were taking a huge dip too... Forget graduating in the right year at this point. It was a lost cause.

Anyway, since someone somewhere had decided to drag him out of his bed and into... here, wherever 'here' was, Sage spared the [clearly not a normal black cat] a glance and the benefit of the doubt. Though the young man had not made an effort to get up yet, he listened to the cat's words as clearly as possible... until it used the word 'kidnap'.

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Output

A patch of the grass, not that far from the two, seemed to spontaneously combust itself, giving birth to a bonfire almost the cat's size. As the black creature kept on monologing, Sage squinted at it with irritation. This damn cat! Just grabbing a random person from a random world to do its dirty job! And without showing any kind of remorse nor sympathy over it either... How unfair! The teenager finally arranged himself sitting on the ground and he was not happy:

"And you didn't think to ask me about it? Or to consider any kind of plans others could already have for their own days on their own worlds?", the neatness of the quest-log and most of its contents were completely cast aside for the moment, "What I think? I think that I'm through having mythical and divine beings doing whatever they please with my life and not getting to hear a piece of my mind, it's what I think."

The fire burned chaotically, sparkles flying in the air mimicking the turmoil inside the young man's head:

"I don't know what it is that the universe, or multiverse or whatever wants of me, but I'm tired of just taking it all in stride as if there's some kind of divine plan after every situation I get thrown into. Maybe you're all just laughing at me and I'm nothing but the multiverse's fool, dancing to entertain you."

The flame seemed to grow still, tamer, though it had started to gnaw at the ground's edges and spread ever so gradually towards more grass. In the meanwhile, Sage looked up, at the sky of this new world.

"Sometimes... Oh, may the Gods please forgive my insolent, heretic thoughts... I look at the sky and wonder if they're really watching over us, or if I'm just following blindly, for they couldn't care less. And dare I say, maybe we've just been left to our own luck, without any guidance.", he let out with a sigh, not even expecting a reply from the other.

 

[Damafaud]

Katie

• A Lunar Cat's Lament
• An Extra on Rewards

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Lunar Cat
  Yggdrasil's Branch of Asgard
  Necessity4Fun ​
  Katie's evening wasn't good. He failed to summon his Super Mega Ultra Omega Magic Cannon 2Z Version R to repel the Leviathan from his napping spot and needed to use Moonlight Step to avoid being flattened again. That magic technician was asking for another earful; He didn't care how complex and contradictory the magic formula is, he only wanted a stable summon coordinate! Was that too much to ask?!
  
  Worse, when Moonlight Step reached the destination, the turbulence caused a space distortion and changed the trajectory of a scroll. When he asked Millicent to check things up, that little mishap ended up dooming the fate of five out of nine Yggdrasil's subsidiary worlds. Then, of course, as a responsible spirit-descend, he needed to return fate to the way it originally should. Oh, no, a spirit-descend shouldn't alter the fate of a world unrelated to him casually. He could only do that through a hero!
  
  To hell with his luck! And deity's bureaucracy! At least Millicent promised to lock down the world until the fate was restored so no more complication could happen.
  
  After moving the squirrel to a safer location, Katie worked to summon his trustworthy hero, Adrian Ward. After he finished the magic formula and activated the calling primer, Katie realised he had made one, but very crucial mistake. He based the summoning spell on lunar pathway. There was no moon in Yggdrasil World. That left him with a summoning spell without a target coordinate. What did it mean?
  
  He had performed a random hero summoning.
  
  "Oh, to hell with this! Why can't I have a nice, relaxing evening for once?!" cried Katie before the summoning sphere burst into light.
  
  Millicent locking down the world meant no other foreign beings could enter Yggdrasil World until the fate of Yggdrasil was returned to its proper path. It also meant Katie couldn't summon another hero until the job was finished. Katie felt like crying, but he couldn't changed what was done.
  
  A hero had been summoned.
  
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Lunar Cat
  Yggdrasil's Branch of Asgard
  Necessity4Fun ​
  Katie's eyes twitched when he saw a fire suddenly flared up at a patch of grass. Great. An exceptional fire hero. For a mission on the World Tree. From the way the hero ranted, he was summoned much too often and was already sick of it. Great. An experienced hero. That was played too much. He now understood why Millicent described his luck as a bad good luck. Strong hero! Of fire on the World Tree! Seasoned hero! Who was already sick of it.
  
  Hearing the hero's rant only made Katie's frown in impatience. He could empathise with the hero, though, so he let the hero vent his thought and complains as he desired. After the hero sighed and took a breather, and didn't look like he had anything else to say, Katie slowly hovered to the hero's height. His round pupil stared straight into the hero's red eyes.
  
  "Firstly," he started. "I'm not divine. Just exceedingly talented in magic. The divine one is my little brother who was born the 7th out of a litter of seven."
  
  Yup. He didn't win the jackpot of life just because he crawled out 13 seconds earlier than her brother. He should have stayed inside longer.
  
  "Secondly, it's not like I call for you specifically. I mean, who the hell call for a fire hero for a mission on Yggdrasil?! I'm also troubled, you know. But both of you and I are stuck here until the quest is finished and the lock on space is opened. Lastly," Katie closed the distance between him and the hero until he could faintly feel the hero's breath on his fur.
  
  "tell me something you that want. It's not like I'm forcing you to do this for free."
  
  The quest screen appeared again. However, there was a noticeable addition in the Quest Reward section.
  
  
  
  

  
  Emergency Quest: Ratatoskr' Substitute
  
  Quest Objectives:
  

  • Deliver the Scroll of Warning in the place of Ratatoskr to the Serpent Níðhöggr at the roots of Yggdrasil
  • Prevent the Arachnid Army of Empress Dowager Resseu from stealing the Fruit of the World Tree

  Failure Conditions:
  

  • The loss of the Fruit of the World Tree
  • The death of Ratatoskr
  • The destruction of Yggdrasil

  Quest Rewards:
  

  • One-way Home Ticket
  • Negotiable Favour from Katie, the Lunar Cat of Space

  
  
  
  
  Truthfully, Katie didn't care a whit for the hero's problem. He was intrinsically selfish and this hero was as good as a stranger to him. Only, it was partly his fault the hero had been wrongly dragged into this mess and appeasing the hero would give him more motivation to finish the quest.
  
  Besides, sparing a little time and effort to reward a hero was better compared to the earful he would get if Yggdrasil ended up being wrecked.
  

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
Still by Yggdrasil, the so called 'World Tree'?

Mood: Resignation, determination and a certain sense of duty

Damafaud​

The young man had blinked once the feline tried to explain it wasn't actually a divine being but their little brother was? Why was that the part of his phrase that stuck?! God, spirit, magic creature, it's not like the rank would change the complaint, someone of a higher hierarchy than he was had tampered with his life suddenly... again.

The flame rose and shook for a moment, reacting to the rising frustration once more, but when the conversation took a different turn he found it suddenly disarmed. While listening to everything with his head hanging, sparkles were replaced with dancing smoke and the flame that had started like a bonfire now, burned slowly, akin to incense against paper:

"Haaaah... It can't be helped then...", Sage sighed, his tone was a mix of defeat and understanding, an altruistic resignation of sorts.

He glanced at the quest-log, --woa, its like a video-game!--, this time actually reading what it said. Magical serpent... Arachnid army? World Tree?! The last item had caused him to avert his gaze a little. The prospect of fire protecting wood was... crazy, unnerving and this tree sounded incredibly important. But, destiny had rolled its dice and chosen him... He had to get it together...

Taking a deep breath, the displaced college student had been about to do something, having closed his eyes briefly before the smell of the smoke at least had reached him.
The scene that followed felt like it could have been part of a cartoon episode's script.

He was startled, the fire flared again threatening to restart and Sage just yelled 'Uh-uh, not on my watch!' at it, scrambling to get up on his feet as fast as he could. Then rushing over the spot, the young man hesitated, almost exchanging glances with himself, --well, he would have if such a thing was anatomically possible--, deciding last minute against losing, yet, another jacket to suffocate flames. So he stomped them, in a ridiculous improvised 'dance', extinguishing the remaining orangeish-red embers on the sole of a generic Converse All Star wannabe.

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"S-saaafe...", he let out in relief, panting slightly after the sudden motions, "At least for now."

"Oh well, since we're stuck together I might as well help as much as I can..."

Placing his open right palm over his heart, Sage then resumed his preparation from earlier, remaining standing in a slightly stiff pose, looking the black cat directly in its sparkly emerald eyes, before closing his carrot-tinted cappuccino ones:

"I accept, before all higher beings that may be watching over us right now, the task bestowed upon me by destiny. I vow to assist... uhh,", he took a peek at the quest-log again, "...Katie, through all hardships, until the end of the mission. I pledge my loyalty, I renew my faith, and in return, I ask for guidance. Oh, Great Ones, guide us, so that we may not falter nor fail."

Sage took a satisfied breath, grinning at the mysterious floaty feline. Hey! New world, maybe even new universe. He considered it very important to be in good term with whichever deities might rule and watch over it. Felt wrong to just waltz into a different world and skew the balance like nothing, as if it was his own home.

"Soooo, about that reward..."

To be honest, getting the offer of whatever he wanted was tempting... Bad tempting. The options were vast and the possible consequences even harder to predict. If he had been given such a question at a younger age, perhaps, he would just have wished to be normal. It would be nice to not cause objects to spontaneously combust every single time he got juust slightly altered.

But now, knowing what he knew about how nature itself worked, he was more afraid of the Butterfly Effect that such a big request could bring upon his world...

"...Is it possible for you to put me back exactly at the time you took me out? As if I had never even left?"

As expected, simple and easy was definitely the way to go.

 

[Damafaud]

• A Lunar Cat
• A Named Scout Spider

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
  Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard
  Necessity4Fun ​
  Unfortunately, his 'simple' favour was returned with a stare that said 'pardon me, are you an imbecile?'
  
  "Is being a simpleton a shared trait among fire users? What part of 'not a divine' don't you get? Six hours margin of error is already good, you know! Pick something else. Oh, and here's the scroll."
  
  Katie flicked his tail. From under the unconscious body of Ratatoskr, a scroll floated up. It hovered momentarily before dropping onto the hero's hands. Katie bopped up and down in the air like a boat on the sea, his eyebrows furrowing. He was a bit worried about this whole 'fire hero saving the world tree' business. Well, his fire couldn't possibly be strong enough to damage the wood, right?
  
  "Hm, what you want is probably a normal day? How about asking for a protection contract? My hero called the contract 'a mortal for a week'. I've done it for an exhausted undercover hero league and an overworked elder of Wizardry Council. The contract included help for mythical and mundane trouble alike. Now, we can go into the details-"
  
  Suddenly, a glowing alarm rang above Katie's head.
  
  "-but you should probably deliver the scroll before the whole army appeared on Yggdrasil. I'll save you from death, but I can't interfere much or I'll get punished."
  
  A screech was heard from down below. It did not sound friendly. Katie floated to the hero's side.
  
  "Oh, right. What's your name? I can't keep calling you fire hero."
  
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Daisy the Scout Spider
  Yggdrasil's Seventh Branch of Svartálfr ​
  Daisy had a comfy web back at home. But Daisy was not home now. Daisy needed to take the Fruit. Empress Dowager wanted the Fruit. If Daisy gave Empress Dowager the Fruit, Daisy could get stronger. Daisy liked getting stronger. Getting stronger meant more food and comfier web. So, Daisy needed to get the Fruit and gave the Fruit to Empress Dowager.
  
  Daisy jumped through the portal. Daisy was the first. Daisy could sense the Fruit was up there somewhere, so Daisy started climbing.
  
  Danger.
  
  Daisy jumped aside. The place where Daisy was was covered with venom. Daisy didn't like venom. Daisy turned around and saw a Venom Spider. The Venom Spider prepared to attack again. Daisy didn't want to be attacked again. So, Daisy attacked it first.
  
  Daisy leapt down and sticked a string to the tree trunk. The Venom Spider spit venom. Daisy swung to avoid it and landed beside the Venom Spider. The Venom Spider tried to run, but Daisy attacked. Daisy shot strings to the Venom Spider. Then, Daisy spinned and spinned and spinned and spinned until the Venom Spider was covered in threads. The Venom Spider was weakened by the poison in the threads. Daisy bit the Venom Spider's neck. The Venom Spider cried out, but Daisy didn't care. Daisy bit down until it didn't cry. When it didn't cry, it meant it was dead. The Venom Spider was dead.
  
  After the Venom Spider was dead, Daisy made a huge web in front of the portal. Daisy wanted to be the first. Daisy needed the Fruit to give to Empress Dowager. Daisy wanted to be stronger. So, Daisy climbed up the tree. Why Daisy climbed the tree?
  
  Because Daisy wanted the Fruit.
  

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
Still by the Yggdrasil tree, whatever that means...

Mood: Nervous anticipation,
and not the good kind.

Damafaud​

"A... A simpleton??"

Sage had been taken completely off-guard by the sudden use of rough language. He wasn't angry nor was he offended in any way, just shocked and slightly disappointed. Really, it's not something one would expect to hear from the mouth of a magical creature that had just summoned you. Anyone would have expected better.

"Well", he sighed, "Look at me. All I wanted to be was a college student, whose biggest concern right now is brushing off on my Ethics for a test in a couple of days. It's not like I know what the ranks are or how far their powers go."
"By the Gods! All I'm good at is setting things aflame!"

The young man was barely done talking when a scroll landed on his hands out of nowhere. Okay, it was clear that a culprit existed and was currently staring him down with emerald eyes as if he was the stupidest person in the multiverse... Heck, he wasn't even sure if his speech had been actually listened to, or not.

Shooting a glance at the scroll, Sage sighed again. This... partnership? Or whatever it is between the two, was apparently going to be complicated.

The feline kept blabbing away something about a contract, which the resigned young man hadn't paid much attention to, at least at first. A normal day did sound great and it had been a while since he had one of those... It was almost as if the adventure in the hotel had signed his 'number' to an unwanted service. Like a scam call, but instead of just being an annoying recording it meant he kept getting tangled into multiverse affairs... He couldn't believe he was thinking this, but he truly missed catching the bus early in the morning by this point:

"Hooo~ Okay, I gotta admit it, that does sound pretty sweet...", he had said it with some excitement, putting on a thoughtful expression, "Oh, of course."

And then the excitement was gone. So, serious, straight to the point, sassy cat. Haaaa, difficult indeed... As his summoner floated beside him, the teen had simply followed it with his eyes.

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*Screeeeeech!!!*
"Oh, right. What's your name?"​

The question had prompted him to blink once in momentary confusion. Oh right, they hadn't had an official introduction yet, had them?

"Sage, I'm Sage Kaelber but my friends will shorte- Wait!! Did you- Did you just hear that in the background?? What is that?"

Coming to a full halt, the college student's gaze travelled towards the direction the high pitched sound seemed to have come from, fire-tinted cappuccino eyes staring right forward as if they could see beyond what could be effectively seen. The noise didn't echo again in the meanwhile, yet he had a bad feeling about this and seeing as they were expecting enemies to show up anytime now, Sage did not risk it.
Turning around, he put a leg slightly behind, keeping them apart and flexioned. His eyes had never left that spot, still staring down at the same path even as he raised his arms into position. In an instant, Sage had pulled up his guard, stopping in the Little Tiger position. Slowly, but noticeably the young man had started giving off an aura of heat and gradually, the temperature of the air near him was raised.

"I reeeally hope you're fire-proof", he had simply muttered at Katie without looking, gaze still locked in a mix of concern and seriousness at that same direction.

 

[Damafaud]

Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard
Necessity4Fun ​

Katie tilted his ears. There was really something.

"It's just a death cry. Living beings that don't die instantly usually release one last cry before they truly die."

As soon as he finished the sentence, Katie furrowed his brows.

"There wasn't supposed to be death cry here. Looks like the enemy is here."

An opaque sphere appeared around Ratatoskr's unconscious body. Katie hopped off the ground onto the sphere. He looked like a lazy cat hugging a ball. The sphere hovered slowly over Sage's shoulder. It released a cool breeze, as if to counter the heat emitted by Sage.

"Yggdrasil shouldn't burn easily. Just don't overdo it. And remember the quest. Protect the World Tree's Fruit and deliver the letter to Serpent Níðhöggr at the bottom of the tree."

Skitters scuttles, murmurs murmurs. A flash of red suddenly passed by the first branch.

------
​

Daisy the Scout Spider
Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard​

Daisy could feel it. The fruit was on the top of the tree. Daisy passed many branches on the way to the top of the tree. There was a branch that smelled like gold. There was a branch that smelled like ash. Daisy didn't like gold or ash. Daisy was fast. The fastest of the spiders. Daisy passed by branch after branch so Daisy could get the fruit before anyone else.

The fruit was closer. Daisy could feel it. Daisy sped up. Daisy passed another branch. This branch smelled like Emperor Dowager. The branch smelled of fire, too, and it smelled like fur. Daisy was curious. The smell of fire was weird. The smell of fur was weird. Daisy also saw two creatures on the branch. Daisy was curious. The other branch was empty.

Even so, Daisy didn't stop. What Daisy needed was the fruit. Daisy needed the fruit so Daisy could be stronger. Stronger meant more food. More food meant happier Daisy.

Daisy wanted to be happy.

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
We didn't move, so guess where?

Mood: Uneasiness, yet determination

Damafaud​

A death cry?! The way Katie had thrown the answer so nonchalantly at him was quite bothering, they were talking about a lost life here, no matter what it was... On the other hand, this meant that whatever was coming towards them had already fought something else, it was hostile and had no regards about starting a fight with them as well. Sage was understandably troubled.

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"As I thought...", he commented with a sigh, "That was faster than I was expecting for our first confrontation."

Glancing at the feline over his shoulder, the young man saw what his not-divine partner was up to. Yeah okay, keeping that poor unconscious squirrel out of harm's way seemed like a good idea. Once more, he had followed Katie's floaty antics with his gaze listening to his every word very attentively. Try not to burn the tree, noted. Remember the mission, note- actually... Not checked.

"Take this one too, I can't guarantee it will stay in one piece near me", he said, throwing the scroll he had been holding over at the black cat, expecting him to just float it over or something like that.

Last time he burned a map he had once been holding, so couldn't be too careful.

Just as Sage's attention had returned to the clearing before them, something in red had begun making its way directly at them, too fast for its shape to be made out properly. The college student had a moment of surprise, widening his eyes before returning to an expression of determination, the fire-orange tilt in his eyes burning fiercer. He mustn't let that thing travel any further!
Coming out of the little tiger guard, he takes a step forward, quickly lowering then raising his arms in an upper motion. Simultaneously with the final motion a thin wall of fire, about 16 feet (5 meters) long and 10 feet (3 meters) high, erupts from the ground in front of the blurry figure, with the intent to force them to come to halt soon.

"Listen! As per the task that has been bestowed to me, I cannot allow you to get any closer. Yet, I'm not the type to unnecessarily start a fight either...", he had paused, a bit reluctant to keep going but quickly reassuring himself, "This is your only warning: turn back now and you can leave unharmed! You've seen what I can do, it is dangerous for you here!!"

Sage waited for a reply, any kind of reply since the young man didn't know whether whatever was beyond the flames was capable of speech or not. Would be great if it did just turn away, as he was never any fond of having to hurt or, --Gods, he hoped not--, kill another living creature. Realistically, however, the chances of that actually happening were quite small...

Peeking over at the enemy whose movement he had gotten in the way of, the college student prepared himself mentally for imminent combat.

 

[Damafaud]

Daisy the Scout Spider
Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard​

Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard​

Necessity4Fun

Fire appeared. Daisy stopped. Fire blocked the way to Fruit. It was bad. Daisy needed Fruit. Daisy needed Fruit so Daisy could get stronger. But Fire was blocking Daisy's way.

Daisy did not like Fire. Fire destroyed Daisy's web. Fire killed Daisy's mate. Daisy didn't like dead mate. It was hard to find another strong Scout Spider. Daisy sensed magic. Fire must be magic. Creature on two feet was shouting something. Creature smelled like magic too. Daisy was smart. Fire was magic. Creature was magic.

Creature created Fire. Fire was from Creature.

If Daisy killed Creature,

Fire would die.

------​

The enemy was a spider. Gross. He hated spiders, just like how he hated insects. Or dogs. Or horses. Hm, he pretty much disliked anything that didn't pamper him. Like humans. Humans were easy to charm, blackmail, coerce, and persuade, so humans were okay. They made fine Heroes, too. And this one, he might actually cheer for him since Sage was helping him, after all. Now, what words of encouragement he should said?

Lost in his own frivolous thought, Katie reacted too late to Sage's word.

​

"Tak- DON'T THROW IT!"

Too late, Sage casually threw the message scroll toward Katie. Instead of catching it as Sage expected, Katie miserably stared at the scroll as it hit the Yggdrasil branch... and rolled over the edge. It dropped down to the Third Branch of Yggdrasil.

"When I say I can't interfere much I really can't! I'm only a spectator in your heroic quest. I can't help you except when you are in grave danger!" wailed Katie as he saw the scroll swaying down on the Third Branch. Oh, he should have explained things more thoroughly! Now they needed to rescue the scroll as well.

"I need to update the quest log to reflect this- watch out!"

The Scout Spider moved swiftly. Sticky ball of webs flew in Sage's direction. The Spider leapt to the air. It opened its mouth and released a green gaseous breath toward Sage.

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
Yggdrasil's fire-y battlefield, no we didn't move.

Mood: Irritation, frustration, apprehension and determination.

Damafaud​

"Tak- DON'T THROW IT!"​

Katie's shout had been the indication that something had gone wrong and the following lecture only seemed to confirm it further.

"Oops...", Sage let out with a nervous smile and an embarrassed flinch. Brilliant, now there was a new item on their quest list, as if anyone wanted to spend any more time on this..., "Well, on the bright side, it won't catch on fire now!"

The college student attempted to smooth over with a joke, though he was well aware of the fact he had just fucked up big time. Oh well, an oath was an oath. Stumbles or not Sage promised to see the mission through, so that's what he was going to do. Even if he ended up self-sabotaging it, ahaha... To be honest, he had no idea that things could fall out of the world itself! How the heck did gravity work in this place?! That seemed like something one should get told about first-hand, like, 'hey, the world in here is flat and things can fall out of the edge', then he wouldn't have thrown the scroll like that! Probably!

Before he could get too deep into the intricacies of how things worked, Katie yelled at him to lookout just in time to see the enemy make their move. Woa big spider, that knowing his luck hadn't understood a word of what he had said. Ooookay duck out of the way of the attack first, admire fantastical nature later!

Seeing the monstrous creature come for him, Sage threw himself to the right, getting out of the way of the web projectiles, ending his movement in a roll that left him with one knee on the ground. The spider was smart, and hadn't given him enough time to get back up, already going for a leap when the young man turned around.

.Magic

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Output

He's startled, widening his eyes for a split-second before reassuring himself. A pair of flame wings erupts from the boy's back, hovering just an inch away from his jacket. They flap forward, joining and expanding to make an irregular shield of fire in front of him. What the spider rams into, is a pure solid flame construct, the impact making a muffled 'thunk' sound. The flames didn't exactly burn like that, yet made the environment warm enough to be rather uncomfortable to stay around. The temperature near Sage himself would be akin to entering a kitchen after leaving the oven on for hours, by now.

The green gas would, at first, stay between the attacker and the firey-shield, until Sage brought his wings back, catapulting the spider off of them also sending himself backwards. Though useful to throw his enemy away, the new flap of air had scattered the probably noxious gas forwards, making it into a bigger cloud than before a couple more feet away. He had been careless and was not completely out of danger yet.

"Tch...!", Sage let out once he had stopped sliding on the grass, he was noticeably angry, orange glow burning furiously on the normally soft cappuccino eyes, "If this is your response, then you leave me no other choice!!!!"

He raised his right arm as if commanding someone to follow his lead. Five orange spots appeared in the ground, the grass under them caught aflame and suddenly, from the now combusting grass, spears of flame rose travelling in a diagonal towards the spider's location. He was ready to expand them into a swirl of flames as soon as they either got destroyed or hit their target.

 

[Damafaud]

Daisy the Scout Spider
Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard​

Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard​

Necessity4Fun

Daisy failed. Creature was strong. Daisy retreated from the green gas as well. Daisy got the green gas from Venom Spider. Venom Spider had many poisons. Daisy got poison from Venom Spider, so Daisy needed to be careful too. Creature created more Fire. Creature was strong. Creature could use Fire. Daisy didn't want to fight Creature anymore. Daisy only wanted Fruit so Daisy could be strong.

Daisy wanted to escape.

---
​

The red spider, now midair, hastily retracted the web connected to its body to avoid the fire spears. It was smart enough to connect the web to the trunk previously, avoiding the sordid fate of being impaled to death midair. As it landed on the trunk, instead of fighting back, it swiftly tried to turn tail and run upward, away from the First Branch and toward the top of the tree. Toward Yggdrasil's Fruit.

"I updated the log!" Katie exclaimed. A translucent window appeared on the peripheral view of Sage, should he chose to see it.

Spoiler: Quest Log

Emergency Quest: Ratatoskr' Substitute

Quest Objectives:

• Secure the Scroll of Warning from the Third Branch of the World Tree
• Deliver the Scroll of Warning in the place of Ratatoskr to the Serpent Níðhöggr at the roots of Yggdrasil
• Prevent the Arachnid Army of Empress Dowager Resseu from stealing the Fruit of the World Tree

Failure Conditions:

• The loss of the Fruit of the World Tree
• The death of Ratatoskr
• The destruction of Yggdrasil

Quest Rewards:

• One-way Home Ticket
• Negotiable Favour from Katie, the Lunar Cat of Space

"What did I- oh."

Katie fell silent after he saw the wings on Sage's back. A construct. He hadn't seen such a smooth control over fire for a long time. Come to think of it, he never saw anyone made a fire construct before. Bad good luck or fate, he had summoned a real hero of fire. Someone truly capable of saving a world. His gaze upon the fire hero now held a new meaning.

screech

A low screech, barely audible, caused the lunar cat's ears to perk up. Katie floated closer to the edge. His eyes peered down below, beyond the means of normal cats and toward the Seventh Branch of Yggdrasil. The portal down there glowed. And something climbed out.

"Uh, Sage," Katie called the hero's name for the first time. The memorable line was spoken with resignation. "Curse my luck and yours, but the spider has reinforcement."

Indeed. On the Seventh Branch of Yggdrasil, five Venom Spiders crawled passed. The spiders noticed the corpse of their brethren . They were not amused. The spiders released another screech. The hideous sound echoed through the tranquil world of Yggdrasil.

"They will keep coming unless Níðhöggr close the spatial gate. You need to make a decision. "

The decision Katie spoke of was the direction of priority Sage could take. He could go to the top and stop the red spider from reaching the fruit. In turn, that would allow more spiders to flow through the gate. He could also went down to the Third Branch, and took the scroll to the roots, to Níðhöggr. However, that would risk the red spider carrying the fruit back to Svartálfr.

"Just so you know, it's fine if you can just stop the fruit from being moved through the portal."

A scene came into play as fate branches out.
A scene came into view as everything goes south.​

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
Yggdrasil's fire-y battlefield, about to move.

Mood: Apprehension and exasperation.

Damafaud​

The young man hadn't really thought of the possibility of his attack having being avoided completely. If anything it had been rather surprising that the giant spider had managed to do so, using the swing of its web. ...Shoot, the web! He should have aimed for that instead, what a missed opportunity! And thus the 'messing up' counter went up to two...

As the spears flew past their target, they had dissipated in the air, breaking apart in nothing but fiery crackles before they had fully gone. Maybe if his control over his powers were any better, Sage could have ordered them to change trajectory as one of his ancestors seemingly had been able to, but alas it was not and the moment his focus had just as much as faltered, poof!, there went his constructs.
What kind of trade was this? Lots of uses yet terrible talent for any of them... It was like giving someone with the world's most terrible aim, a shotgun. Sounded like a really bad idea, didn't it?

The quest log popped back up as if calling him back to reality and out of his thoughts. Oh right, the darn spider!

"Uh, Sage, curse my luck and yours, but the spider has reinforcement."​

Or maybe not. Curse both their lucks indeed...

Suddenly he had a decision to make. Stay and fight the one he already had been fighting, but at the risk of letting more of the spiders through... OR, let that one go, risk having to fight an empowered enemy in the future, but allow for less backup. This stunk, his sense of self-righteousness wanted to try and embrace it all, handle it all. But he was only one, and Katie couldn't exactly help either...

He took a deep breath, trying to balance the conflicting emotional energies inside him and then he opened his eyes again, burning with determination:

"No, wait! There's still one more thing I can try!"

.Magic

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Without even waiting for the cat's response, Sage's fire wings opened up, large and proud, and he took off with a few flaps, making a glide forwards to remain parallel to the tree's trunk. Though, by that moment, he had completely forgotten about the cloud of green gas, that one he had probably just flown through without giving it the proper time to scatter... Make that 'mess up' counter three now.

Either way, after having positioned himself, he took on a couple more flaps elevating himself higher until he would be in a middle point towards the ground, but also to the spider's location. Then raising his arms, similarly, as to how the fire spears had come to be, chains made out of flames had come to be, extending themselves from the now burned grass. Sage gestured towards the runaway arachnid and the constructs followed, as merciless snakes towards their target. They'd attempt to attach themselves to the spider's legs and before Sage could even see the result, he'd gesture for them to come back, hopefully successfully yanking the creature from the tree and launching it further away from them.

That wouldn't stop it, not fully, but if it worked that spider would have to re-do a lot of progress... It was a shame that he had to remain in the vicinity for any of his constructs to still retain their forms. A fire cage would have been cool.

He didn't have time to spend checking anything, however, as suddenly they had a countdown over their heads. The choice was obvious, fighting an empowered enemy seemed easier than having to fight an army of enemies.

"Katie, guide the way! We're leaving!", Sage ordered the lunar cat, gliding back down to remain on its field of vision then taking a few flaps to stabilise the flight, he had not landed yet.

Scroll, here we come for you! Again.

 

[Damafaud]

• Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard
• Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Daisy the Scout Spider
  Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard​
  
  

  

  
  

  Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
  Yggdrasil's First Branch of Asgard​

  Necessity4Fun
  
  Daisy moved fast. The Fruit was close. Daisy could smell it. Daisy was a Scout Spider. Daisy was not strong, but Daisy was fast. Daisy also could hear well and see well and smell well and feel well. Daisy's senses were well. Daisy sensed magic again. Magic suddenly moved to the air above Daisy. It was Creature.
  
  Creature created Fire again. Fire headed to Daisy. Daisy was fast. Daisy used web to jump to air and avoided Fire. The Fire didn't get Daisy because Daisy was smart and-
  
  Daisy fell.
  
  Daisy couldn't pull Daisy back to the trunk. Fire was magic. Fire moved around and burned Daisy's web. Daisy fell, but Daisy didn't panic. Daisy shot another web at the branch, so Daisy was still close to the fruit. Daisy saw Creature flying down. That was good. Daisy didn't like Creature. Now that Creature left, Daisy didn't need to meet Fire.
  
  Daisy started climbing again. Daisy needed to take the fruit.
  
  
  ---
  ​
  The red spider evaded the fire chains easy enough. However, the fire tongue licked away at the thread it used to swing, turning the spider's leap into a fall. Although Sage had to fight blindly against the spiders, the same applied to the spider army. They had no experience nor foreknowledge regarding Sage of his fighting prowess or ability.
  
  Angry cry blasted at Katie's ear as he trailed after Sage on his sphere. Despite the speed they were at, his flight was still comfortable. His fur wasn't swayed by the wind. Wind didn't Katie might as well rode a car; safe in his cabin, unaffected by the high speed he traveled at. The cat's nose suddenly wrinkled. A weird smell had invaded his sense of smell. It came from Sage.
  
  "That poison gas should be similar to a tranquilizer," he explained with a frown. "spiders use it to sedate their prey before restraining them with their web."
  
  When used by a mature Venom Spider, the poison would paralyse the target within seconds. Fortunately, the poison Sage inhaled was diluted. It was turned to gas by the Scout Spider and lost its potency as a result. Even so, a poison was still poison. Numbness and delay in reaction time was a light enough effect compared to the original poison.
  
  A shout was heard from below.
  
  "Oh, what now?!"
  
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Venom Spiders
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard​
  Venom Spiders were not as fast as a Scout Spider. Their main forte laid at their myriad poisons and venomous glands. Even the Scout Spider, lauded for its craftiness and intelligence, only dared to take the mildest of poisons from the dead venom spiders. A diluted version, at that. Otherwise, its body would be harmed by the poison it extracted.
  
  Though they were not the fastest, the Venom Spiders had a considerable speed. The quintet reached the fourth branch of Yggdrasil before long. At the end of the fourth branch was Midgard, a realm inhibited by humans. Midgard was quite famous in Yggdrasil world. Its inhabitants often travelled to the world tree to fulfill their own need or travel to another realm. Luckily, the gate to Midgard was dormant this time around. Otherwise-
  
  "YGGDRASIL, BABY! IT'S MOTHERFUCKIN' YGGDRASIL!"
  
  Jim, who just shouted and expressed delight at the fruit of his exploration for years, stiffened. Five heads and twenty pair of eyes bore into his whole existence. Cold sweat ran down his face behind the mask he was wearing. He didn't twitch a muscle, despite the heavy contraception attached to his back and lower limbs. Here, the twenty years old Jim thought, maybe if I just stay still, they will ignore me.
  
  Then, the five spiders changed their travel direction toward the end of the Fourth Branch.
  
  "Well, fuck this I'm outta here!"
  
  The contraception on his back roared as it blasted out fire at the branch. The fire propelled Jim off the branch just as the fastest spider swiped its leg at where he was. Just before Jim could relax, a web attached itself at his jetpack. It was not strong enough to pull him down, but it slowed him enough for the other spiders to shoot their thread at him.
  
  "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Panicked, Jim boosted the propulsion of his jetpack. However, his reaction was too slow. Another spider had already attached its thread at his jetpack. A third spider prepared to shoot its web. By then, he would be pulled toward the spiders... and that would be the end of Jim Jamieson.
  
  Spoiler: Jim

  
  
  

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
In-between Yggdrasil's First and Fourth branches

Mood: Nervousness, Disappointment, Apprehension and Helpfulness

Damafaud​

Allowing Katie to act as a guide, Sage had slowed his flight slightly, trailing behind in a glide that on a different circumstance would have been extremely pleasant to experience. He adored flying, it came together with this sensation of liberty, an unusual way to perceive the world around him, to observe things beyond the horizon or glide as high as the clouds. If only there were more chances to make use of it on his day-to-day life, without causing unwanted fires on the process... That'd be great. As it stood, however, it was best for everyone if he just did not remove the bracelet at all. Less chance of objects spontaneously combusting.

It was only when the lunar cat had spoken again that the college student had taken his mind out of how much flying was nice, at first, not really sure of why the subject was suddenly the spider's poison. And then he recalled the cloud of ominous green gas:

"...I went right through it, didn't I?", he facepalmed in self-disappointment, "That sounds like something I'd do alright."

With a defeated sigh, the young man looked back at the guide's words. A tranquillizer... Was that good news or bad news? Surely, sluggish movements meant even poorer control of his powers which would definitely get in the way... But, wouldn't it make it harder for negative emotions such as anger to come through? Maybe... but then also the stress of having to accomplish something while in a drowsy state would also get to him rather quickly. In conclusion, the outcome was definitely not good.

"F-for how long?", Sage had asked, averting his gaze from the lunar cat.

.Magic

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He sighed again, growing a bit nervous with that which he was about to do, but given the recent mess-up, it had to be now so that Katie would not be taken by surprise on an emergency. Gulping down some saliva and taking a deep breath, the hero of fire started in a meek, hesitant tone:

"Katie...? I uhhh, I know that we've established that you can't help but, I have a request to make and it's very very important that you remember it..."

"If you see blue fire, I need you, or anyone else, to knock me out as soon as possible."

Looking away once more, Sage had been prepared to answer some rather unpleasant questions, especially after the serious tone in which he had said that last sentence, but as was usual of two individuals with trashy luck, there was no time for them to come...

Someone's voice echoed right below and they didn't seem to be having a good time.

"Do you think...?", he glanced over at the feline companion, half-words that bounced in-between them, holding a lot of contextual meaning.

Whatever Katie's response is, Sage doesn't stick around enough to hear it, a powerful new flap of the flame-wings already sending him cutting through the air downwards, towards the direction the distress call seemed to come from. He hoped he wouldn't be too late to help.

 

[Damafaud]

• Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard
• The Top of Yggdrasil Tree

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Venom Spiders
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard​
  
  

  

  
  

  Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Asgard​

  Necessity4Fun
  
  The poison gas did nothing to Katie. Due to his constitution, any poison affecting his body had no effect. Only poisons strong enough to affect the soul could affect him. He scanned Sage to examine how the gas would affect him. Fire users generally didn't have any special resistance against fire, excluding the Golden Ravens and several exotic races.
  
  "Between ten to fourty minutes? I'm not good at physiology so I can't give an exact time."
  
  Poison and medicine were opposite sides of the same coin and both weren't Katie's forte. He wasn't fond of cloak and dagger business. He preferred calamity dragon and extinction cannon.
  
  Sage's request elicited a raised eyebrow from the cat, but Katie merely nodded as a response. His years in the multiverse introduced him to many blue fire. Ice Phoenix divine flame, Will-o'-Wisp flame, really hot flame from the stupid stove that burnt his tail... the point was, he was already used to the idea that blue fire was equal to bad news.
  
  A commotion below stopped Katie from giving his comment on their situation. His expression distorted. From the sound of it, it was the sound of someone in trouble. The cat turned to Sage, an alarmed expression on his face.
  
  "Oh no, you don't-"
  
  Aaand Sage zoomed in to help. Katie cursed his luck once more. A fire hero usually had two weaknesses; their intrinsic simplicity and their strong valor. And Sage just had to have a high moral ground! The whole world was at stake! Why even bother with an unlucky passerby that got caught by monsters? They were unlucky enough as it was!
  
  The cat sighed, resigned to his luck (and the lack of it). Brash or whatever, Sage was still a hero. His hero. The sphere levitated after Sage without a sound, following him in his 'sub-quest' to save a dumbass in trouble.
  
  Hopefully the dumbass was a pretty, well-mannered lady.
  
  ----​
  "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! WORK HARDER YOU PIECE OF TRASH!"
  
  Jim roared and cursed at the flying contraption as the spiders worked together to pull him close. Though the Venom Spiders were considered as an elite force, their intelligence wasn't as high as that of a Scout Spider, leaving them easily side-tracked by an easy prey. Beneath his mask, Jim's expression worsened. It was only a matter of time until the jet seat ran out of fuel. When that happened, his journey to Yggdrasil would turn into his journey to afterlife.
  
  The spiders worked together to pull their prey down to ground. An impatient arachnid spit out acid once the jet seat entered range, only to miss and sprayed the spider next to it. Angry hisses ensued as two of the spiders started fighting, disrupting their already fragile teamwork. The leader of their pack, the only one able to dominate the others without eliciting a complain, already died in the hand of a scout spider earlier.
  
  Their infighting gave Jim a space to take some breath. With only three spider effectively pulling him down, the jet seat managed to drag the spiders as it gained altitude. Even so, it only gave him some time. The spiders still pull at the jet seat. Considering the spiders' weight and the strength of their web, it was impossible for the jet seat to reach the second branch.
  
  If nothing broke the equation, Jim would die as soon as he ran out of fuel.
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Daisy the Scout Spider
  Top of Yggdrasil​
  Daisy reached the top! Fruit was also on the top. Daisy could smell it. Creature didn't follow after Daisy so Daisy didn't worry about Fire. Daisy could take Fruit. If Daisy carried Fruit to Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager would make Daisy stronger. Daisy would get a new mate, too. A strong and healthy Scout Spider, just like Daisy. The smell got stronger. Fruit was getting near. Daisy climbed a small branch higher and higher to the top of the tree. Fruit must be at the end. And there it was.
  
  
  ---
  ​
  The Tree of Yggdrasil was taller than the average skyscraper and larger than the average mountain. Its trunk was gigantic. Its branches were strong enough to hold nine Worlds at its end. A tree so huge, of course, would produce fruits humongous in size as well. While the Scout Spider possessed an enhanced sense of smell, it was only able to smell the Fruit of Yggdrasil due to its natural fragrance which could also be smelled by even humans as long as they were near.
  
  Daisy the Scout Spider stood still as its six eyes stared at a fruit ten times its size. The fruit was as large as an average suburban house. It was unknown whether the fruit was as heavy as it looked. The Scout Spider tried to pluck the fruit. It pierced its sharp leg at the stalk. A small wound was formed. Weak stalk or not, it was still the stalk of Yggdrasil Tree.
  
  Plucking the fruit took longer than Daisy thought it would be.
  

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
Yggdrasil's Fourth branch, blocking the way to the trunk

Mood: Annoyance, Helpfulness, Determination, yet Worry

Damafaud​

Keeping his wings slightly closed to reduce the push of the wind and cut through the air with less resistance, Sage zoomed downwards in the direction where the panicked shouts kept coming from, guided by the loud profanities released by a man's voice. Not the type of vocabulary that the temple-raised teenager was comfortable with, though the other's exasperation had been quite understandable once he had gotten a view of the situation.

More spiders, the young man had thought to himself with a note of distaste. He was still a fierce abider of 'not taking another creature's life unless strictly necessary', but that didn't mean that he had to like them. Especially not when they acted like that, attacking anything in their path. Bright green giant arachnids, resembling of the cloud of poison the student had flown through earlier, ganged on an older-sounding man, sitting in some kind of flying contraption that struggled to keep itself on the air. The reason? The attackers had attached webs to the machine, pulling it down with their weight:

"Just how intelligent are these things?!", he asked himself, though the internal fighting amongst them let him know that well, not much. Just enough for being nuisances to any unaware passers-by.

"Hold on! I'm coming!!"​

.Magic

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Output

On Jim's point of view, a sudden flash of orange, fast resembling of a boomerang shape had swooped underneath his jet-pack, not too close to cause any damage but enough for the air to heat up a little, akin to a warm ray of sunlight. The strange phenomenon had passed and suddenly the weight of the spiders previously dragging the contraption down were no longer there. If he looked down, he'd see the remains of a burned web thread hanging from the jet-pack and that the arachnids had fallen back on the branch, no longer attached to the machine.

Hovering a couple of feet from the ground, closer to the start of the branch, would be Sage wearing a serious and slightly disappointed expression, an arm raised in front of him releasing steam from the flame-blade he had just conjured:

"Go, now!", the fire hero ordered the man in the flying contraption, "I'll hold them back for you!"

He had said something like that, but the truth is that the young man's vision had started to slowly blur. Stupid poison. He wondered for how long he could actually keep this going before even staying in the air started to become difficult. Hopefully, this wouldn't last for too long and his fiery magical essence would burn through it faster than normal people did. Hopefully, or they would be in quite the amount of trouble...

Sage awaited the spiders' reactions to his interference. They'd probably not be too happy about it, if the previous encounter with one had been of any clue.

 

[Damafaud]

• Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard
• The Top of Yggdrasil Tree

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Venom Spiders
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard​
  
  

  

  
  

  Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Asgard​

  Necessity4Fun
  
  When the webs were burnt, the jetseat propelled upward at a tremendous speed. Sage didn't need to remind him; even if he was asked to say, Jim would raise his middle finger before he fucking gets out of there.
  
  "Thanks a bunch, kid!" shouted Jim as he flew right in a parabola to the third branch... and into the gate leading to Álfheimr. Katie stared at the smoky trail of his jetseat with a complicated expression.
  
  "What was it again? Out of the tiger's den into mine?" he mumbled to himself. The sphere he rid on was now glowing green. Now, he shouldn't interfere with the battle, but he had the right to change the sphere used to protect the replaced hero, right? Maybe blue was better. Or red. How about silver? There was a colour with a pretentious name he liked, but what was it again?
  
  Every time the colour changed, the sphere was accompanied by a brief blink of light. Naturally, such action attracted the attention of the Venom Spiders. The Spiders shrieked, furious, toward Sage, but none dare to make the first attack. They had an intrinsic fear toward fire, something Sage did not lack. Facing something attracting attention that was not fire, they turned their attention toward it. The Venom Spiders opened their mouth and spit out lines of sickly green liquid. One of the lines hit Katie right in the face.
  
  splash
  
  Katie stared in disbelief at the spiders. Similarly, the spiders stared back in disbelief. Why wasn't he screaming?
  
  "You- you-" Disbelief soon turned into anger. "You dare spit in my face? Me, the Great Katie? DIE! ALL OF YOU!"
  
  The YGGDRASIL trembled. A circular light of icy blue tint formed above Katie. The same circle appeared in the depth of his eyes. A suppressive aura surged out from his body. However, before the aura could affect Sage and the Spiders, the light suddenly dimmed. A hammer replaced the light. Then it smacked Katie to the sky.
  
  "TO HELL WITH BUREAUCRACYYYY ..." His voice trailed off. Katie and the now white sphere he rid on shot up at a high speed. Past the third branch, second branch, top of the tree, making a hole in a cloud...
  
  The spiders had no idea how close they were to something worse than death. During the appearance of the circular light, the Venom Spiders stared dumbly at Katie. Now that he was gone, some of them hadn't recovered. Only one was quick enough to realize Sage was still present. It shrieked and opened its jaw. This time, blue, icy liquid flew at Sage.
  
  
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Daisy the Scout Spider
  Top of Yggdrasil​
  Daisy continued to slave away, slowly but surely chipping off the stem of Fruit. Daisy felt a sudden updraft.
  
  "-UREAUCRACYYYY ..."
  
  Daisy turned her head around. There was nothing on the top. The sound got fainter and fainter until it vanished. Everything was silent quiet again. Daisy tilted her head, scratching her temple in a human-like manner.
  
  What was that?
  

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human
Yggdrasil's Fourth branch, against the floor of the branch

Mood: Frustration, Fear and Impotence

Damafaud​

"You're welcome, pal~! Do try and be more careful next time!"

The college student smiled, saluting with satisfaction at the sky, watching as the flying contraption zoomed through the air and back where it had probably come from. Perhaps if the situation had been a different one, he could have stood there admiring the intricacies and potential of people, reflecting to himself about inventions and the like, defying boundaries set by biology and the divine... But unfortunately, this was not the peaceful pondering moment he'd have liked it to be, especially as the blue and white of the sky warped into itself and he felt rather dizzy.

If things were already looking bleak by then, they were only bond to get worse by the minute. The spiders screeched, Sage had looked back at the creatures to prepare for the worst and then! They had decided to turn around and attack Katie instead that had been doing who knows what. The young man grimaced and for a moment everything in the fourth branch had stood completely still and uncertain...

"You- you-", his orange-tinted eyes had widened, witnessing the beginning of the lunar cat's rage,
"You dare spit in my face? Me, the Great Katie? DIE! ALL OF YOU!"​

"WAIT! Katie you're not supposed to-!!"

Trying to reach out for the black feline proved to be of no effect as a hammer was conjured out of nowhere, batting the cat flying upwards the world tree. Sage could only blink in shock at first, following the trajectory of the ascending Katie with his gaze. And then it hit him:

.Magic

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Output

"Ahh, come back!! I need you to watch for the-"

*Screeeeeech!!!*​

That noise again! He was really starting to hate it!!
Barely with time to widen his eye in surprise, the Pyromancer tried to move out of the way of the blue liquid with minimal mounts of success, his right arm getting caught by the blast. It stung, but before he could get a chance to assess whether it was from freezing or acid the poison continued to kick in, the sensation of weakness and dizziness growing stronger. The flame wings blinked in and out existence, as if a flashlight out of power, and Sage dropped to the ground suddenly as they vanished, tripping on the ground and doing a roll forwards as he landed almost on his face.

The fall, the burns... Everything had lined up perfectly to have the young man end up nearly face-to-face with a very blurry amalgamate of the group of spiders. He gasped, attempting to get away but only stumbling on top of himself, placing his palms against the trunk of the branch bellow them in desperation, bringing about a fire-wall to separate him from the attackers. Sage knew it wasn't going to last, that he had found himself in quite the predicament, sweating cold at the danger right ahead.

Emotional, magical and physical tensions swirled, the college student barely able to keep himself going, forcing his body to function even under the influence of the numbing poison... The bottom tips of the recently raised wall tinted themselves blue, the phenomenon beginning to slowly spread throughout the construct.

 

[Damafaud]

• Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard
• The Top of Yggdrasil Tree

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Venom Spiders
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard​
  Just like how green was colour-coded for acid and red for fire, blue was coded for ice. The liquid that hit Sage was not an exception. His arm was frozen at an inopportune angle; Not obtuse enough to be useful yet acute enough to make it tiring to hold said angle. If there was something good about the ice, it was that his arm only felt cold. The cold was not enough to be painful and burning.
  
  The shriek of the ice-venom spider soon drew the attention of the others. Their movement only turned faster when the fire wings flickered out of existence. Finally! So far, the venom the spiders had shown didn't live up to their name. Fire was the bane of poison. Though they could produce venom on their own, venom spiders were not immune to their own venom. At most, they possessed high resistance toward them.
  
  But now, with the fire out of the way...
  
  Sage's fire-wall drew the first blood out of the spiders. One overly-eager Venom Spider leapt toward Sage the moment he landed, only to be greeted by the smell of his own burning flesh. The spider screeched. It sounded no different from its usual shriek if not for high frequency and erratic movement that came with it. The other spiders scrambled out of its crazed charge, yet for one reason or another, it made a sharp turn and lunged toward an off-guard spider. The two fell. From the look of it, they wouldn't land on the second branch either.
  
  Venom Spiders, in general, were considered to be careful creatures. For one to charge in recklessly and bring another to death with it could be considered a stroke of luck on Sage's side. A stroke of luck that came from his right arm being frozen and his flickering flame wings that lowered the defence of the spiders. Of course, he was now in a situation more dangerous than the previous one. It was debatable whether to call the accident a stroke of good luck or a stroke of bad luck.
  
  Of course, Katie had a more direct and fitting description of Sage's situation: bad good luck.
  
  Seeing the fate of two of their brethren, the three remaining Venom Spiders approached Sage with caution. They started spitting blue liquid. The liquid evaporated the moment it touched the fire, yet it consumed a small size of flame with it each time. The temperature, once soaring from fire and heat, started to be speckled with spikes of cold, cold ice.
  
  ​
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Daisy the Scout Spider
  Top of Yggdrasil​
  
  

  

  
  

  Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
  Sky​

  Necessity4Fun
  
  
  Daisy continued to saw off the stem. Daisy was halfway finished to halfway of the stem.
  
  
  ---
  ​
  "..."
  
  As the Lunar Cat of Space, Katie was proud of his movement speed more than anything else. If he felt like it, he could reach any point in the world in nearly no time at all. The Hammer of Judgement, however, restricted him from moving until his speed naturally dropped to zero.
  
  In other words, until he reached the highest point of the curve of his flying pathway due to the hammer strike, Katie could do nothing at all.
  
  A fun fact known to a small group of people: the Hammer of Judgement was created by Katie to restrict Katie after he lost a bet with his sister over a trivia quiz. The theme of the quiz? Dining etiquette across the worlds.
  

 

[Necessity4Fun]

(?) / Magically Infused Human
Yggdrasil's Fourth branch, standing tall.

Status: Blacked out?
Mood: Sheer terror Outrage, Incredulity, Contempt, Eagerness, Obstinacy.

Damafaud​

Oh, Holy Lance of Ends and Beginnings this was... None of this was any good!

For starters, Sage's arm had been frozen solid still flexed up, a heavy block of thankfully not burning ice that was still going to slow him down considerably on top of the poison which kept sapping any kind of energy to get back up, blurring the landscape as to difficult any sort of action. He could, kind of see one of the spiders try to go past the fire-wall put up for protection, burning itself on the process against the grill-like temperature. Wherever it had gone, more screeches of the creature had echoed beyond, ones that seemed to have grown fainter and fainter until they were no longer there even.

Had something happened to part of the attacker's group? The grounded college student couldn't tell on sound alone, and his vision seemed to dance with some non-existent wind. It was nigh time that even the barrier he had raised would begin to weaken as his own mind began to waver and lose focus, though, judging by the characteristic sizzle of something cold against something warm he wouldn't get that much time...

"Mighty Beasts on the Home Sky... Please, bestow upon me your protection and guidance, for I am afraid of what could be about to happen..."

They were close. He could feel the temperature right ahead diminish, like the sudden coming of winter. The snow sizzled against the fire that he no longer had the spirit to maintain. The wall was about to be undone... Heck, HE was about to come undone!

A cacophony of impatient screeching and evaporation sizzle rang on through the Fourth Branch, together with his terrified fast-beating heart, orange-tinted gaze locked on the blur of moving figures and colors, tears in the corners of his eyes. If Katie didn't come back in time... Either the spiders or It could ultimately become his end. There was no one else, nothing else to snap him out of it this time. Maybe Yggdrasil, as well as himself, was already doomed from the start, maybe this was just the culmination of that fate...

The scenery continued to blur, every sound seemed to morph and twist and warp into itself beyond recognition and then...!

Absolutely nothing.

.Magic

74%

Output

The venom spiders weren't smart enough to notice something had changed, probably still focused on putting out the, now almost fully, blue fire that stood sad inches raising from the ground. But for another type of observer, to an actual rational being, Sage was... clearly no longer there. Well, his body was, but his spirit, his Light, seemed to have wandered somewhere else as his form remained sat on the bark of the branch, head hanging low, eyes devoid of life like some kind of flesh-made still-doll.

With the wall of fire put out it seemed like the pyromancer was naught but a sitting duck, easy prey. It was possible that the starved barbaric spiders had rushed right in with the prospect of an easy meal. Unfortunately for them, it wouldn't be that simple...

Moments of quietude would soon be disrupted by something that could only be described as a shock-wave. Shockwave? Perhaps a flame-wave would be more accurate as blue ragging fire had come to be seemingly coming from Sage himself, a furious gust of wind that aimed to topple down the hungry creatures, accompanying the brutal sudden change in temperature having reacted with heavy amounts of pressure. The phenomena did not stop there, as the student's own silhouette was consumed by the same kind of blue blaze, an aura of sorts, that burned brighter and fiercer than any other construct that he had built thus far, clouds of evaporated sweat leaving into the skies.
Still on fire, 'he' had slowly got 'himself' back up. It was clever, way more experienced and attuned to the ability than any of the mortal anomalies could ever attempt to be. And so, the poison was gone, evaporated and consumed away by speed-up, highly combustible metabolism. It wouldn't let a mere insect's substance get in Its way that easily. It, certainly did not like being forced to deal with such a small nuisance in the first place...

Taking a step forward with oddly calm and graceful ways, the form of the pyromancer had finally glanced at his attackers again, flames dying out at every inch It approached, little by little. Its eyes shone, giving off light with a supernatural vivid blue, unusual little flames seemed to dance on them too... The stare It shared? Jarringly cold, uncannily so, like someone staring at an ant seconds before crushing it under their boot with sadistic satisfaction. Whatever It was, It was furious and wouldn't take less than to tear each remaining arachnid apart, down to their very quarks themselves.

"Ah, the mundane plane...", the unknown entity wearing the young man akin to a bodysuit looked at down at 'itself', inspecting, feeling the solid form with a near child-like intrigue, "Same generation, yet, a different location...?", sapphire-colored gaze darted around the environment, rather quickly, a couple of glances, a feel of the air itself seemed to be more than enough, "No.

Different universe

altogether but linked still. How........

Curious.

The voice was still Sage's, and yet, it would fool nobody as it had been drained of any kind of warmth, any sort of emotion, of passion... Other times it echoed, like an eerie chorus of itself, further reinforcing the prospect of something inhuman, lacking the capacity to connect to others, to appreciate the space It suddenly found itself in. Interest, when present, was temporary and mild, morbid and threatening.

Yggdrasil was now Its playground, and all of its residents merely toys waiting to be used then broken, discarded by the whimsical cruel being.
Oh, What a time to be alive, was it not?

"So you've cornered the Anomaly Child, am I supposed to be clapping his hands and giving out my congratulations?", It laughed, loud, hysterical, Its voice distorted and filled with contemptuous malice,

"Pathetic.

Here's a real challenge,

why don't you trio of 8-legged mindless drones try to pin me down instead?"

To emphasize on the 'offer', It had stopped walking, standing with a distance of no more than 2 feet apart from the giant spiders, staring at them as if instead of the rather capable arachnids, these were just noisy barking dogs It could kick aside in case of misbehaviour. Yet, It didn't quit making the attacker's jobs seemingly easier, opening up Its arms, holding them extended to the sides, the chest area now completely unprotected.

"Don't keep me waiting.", It kept taunting without an ounce of fear, nor a change of tone from total indifference as It motioned with an inviting wave of hand, "Go on, give it your best shot."

A smile had then complemented this set of off-putting, incredibly illogical displays. What could It be plotting?

 

[Damafaud]

• Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard
• The Top of Yggdrasil Tree

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Venom Spiders
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard​
  
  

  

  
  

  Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
  Sky​

  Necessity4Fun
  
  The venom spiders were confused. Everything was going on fine. The fire was finally extinguished, but another appeared. Blue flames. Their instincts screamed for the spiders to run, but they didn't. Or rather, they couldn't. For one, the Empress Dowager's order had been imprinted deeply in their mind; get the Fruit, or become their brethren's food.
  
  The other reason was, something told them this human was not the same human.
  
  Spoken language, one with a clear, defined structure such as the humans' was not something comprehensible by the spiders. Gestures, however, were universal. Though the shockwave and blue fire put the venom spiders into a daze, the following provocation replaced their confusion into wrath.
  
  How dare a mere human provoke them!
  
  With their venom instantly evaporated by the fire, the venom spiders were not out of choice; their fangs could inject any creature foolish enough to fight in close quarters with all the venom stored in their glands.
  
  The three remaining venom spiders leapt toward the 'Hero'.
  
  
  
  ---​
  
  Out of sheer luck, Katie flew right into the flying route of an eagle. The eagle squawked angrily at the sudden impact, but Katie couldn't care less. He was free!
  
  The cat immediately vanished, reappearing on his spot on top of Ratatoskr's sphere.
  
  "I'm back! What did I miss?"
  
  It was just so that 'Sage' was way in front of the sphere. There was no way for Katie to see the blue glow in his eyes.
  
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Daisy the Scout Spider
  Top of Yggdrasil​
  Creak
  
  The stem was creaking. Daisy was happy. Daisy hastened Daisy's work. The Fruit would soon be free.
  
  
  ​

 

[Necessity4Fun]

(?) / Magically Infused Human
Yggdrasil's Fourth branch,
delivering swift

punishment.

Status: Take-Over
Mood: Satisfaction, Amusement, Hatred, Indignancy, Contempt, Anticipation, Malice

Damafaud​

Insects weren't fun enemies to taunt. They lacked the emotional response other animals and humans had. Honestly, look at a spider, can you even tell what it is feeling? All they did was run or attack. There was no depth, no shine to their eyes. It observed as they hesitated initially with boredom and indifference, there was no telling what was passing inside their primitive minimalistic minds of theirs. Could these creatures even understand what was happening right before them? Could they even tell that something had changed? Maybe by instinct, but nothing else.

What an unimpressive, lacking group of foes. It couldn't even call this proper entertainment even less a challenge.
It would all be over soon, in the blink of an eye...

Beyond the group of arachnids, a clueless puppet master returned to its allegedly safe post. The Moon feline. It merely spared it a brief glance before directing the borrowed gaze upon the spiders again. A hate-filled unnatural glowing, piercing glance. How dare this animal attempt to bind the Anomaly that was rightfully Its property?! But, It digressed. It's thankful to the cat's incompetence that It was now in control of the body and standing in a completely new world for that matter... Whenever It burned this insolent quadruped It would make it powerful and quick.

There had not been a response directed towards Katie however, this was as far as Its mercy and gratitude went...
To get anything at all should already be a way greater honor than this dumb feline deserved.

Excluding the presence of the grinding, condescending fur-ball, events had unfolded just as It had predicted they would. The spiders had been enraged by Its taunts, screeching back at It with fury, good. The smile in the Anomaly's lips had opened up into a confident, sadistic grin as the attackers lept in for the kill. All three of them at once... They weren't even smart enough to understand how more likely they were to hit each-other instead of this body! The foolish arachnids weren't only about to fall for an ambush, they were also making it so much easier for It in the process!!

.Magic

82%

Output

Loud, crazed laughter echoing in three parts travelled through the Yggdrasil's fourth branch, a maddened bloodthirsty sound that would send a shiver down anybody's spine... Wardens to prisoners, soldiers to corpses. The ignorant predators were about to become the prey, outsmarted on their own little game.

Ironic, was it not?

Just as it had seemed like the three-way attack was a success and 'Sage' had nowhere to go, It had lept out of the way upwards. An aura of vivid blue fire had erupted around the body, following the college student's silhouette, suspending the body in the air similarly as the fire-wings had once done. At the same time that It had taken flight, the ground where It once stood had been consumed by raging flames, a fiery inferno half a block wide aiming to completely engulf the spiders in its destructive might. It simply observed the despairing enemies as realization had certainly hit them, savouring any pain-filled screeches they might have released. There it was, the one and only thing that spiders were good for!

Eyes glowing with satisfaction and pleasure, an array of little flames had soon spawned in the air right behind It, each one taking the shape of a flaming ornate spear construct, the shape itself infinitely times more complex than anything the owner of the body had ever conjured. For now, they remained hovering in the space behind It, pointed down at the high-pitched arachnid barbecue, waiting for a command.
Any kind of movement and Its foes would be mercilessly impaled on the spot.

 

[Damafaud]

• Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard
• The Top of Yggdrasil Tree

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Venom Spiders
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard​
  
  

  

  
  

  Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard​

  Necessity4Fun
  
  The uneerie appearance of blue fire triggered an instinctive fear in the spiders. Fire was rarely blue. It only did so under unusual condition. It did so at extremely high temperature. It did so when magic is involved. Whatever condition the fire appeared in, it was never a condition desireable to the spiders.
  
  After their target once again leapt to the air, the spiders were washed by a sense of uncertainy. Spiders, at their roots, were not cooperative creatures. Though they united under the command of their queen, the looming sensation of death reverted them back to their former self. They were monsters, animals, living beings. Their first priority was their own survival.
  
  The three spiders showed different reactions under the threat of the blue fire. One screeched before running away like a coward, leaving its two brethren behind. One shot its venom, aiming to freeze the fire once again. The third bare its venomous fangs and raised its legs, trying to scare the blue fire off through intimidation. Of course, the three spiders all met the same fate.
  
  A blue bolt pierced the body of the spider who tried to escape. The searing burn caused it to screech. Impaled to the branch, it futilely struggled to escape before the fire consumed its life. A blue spear easily blocked the venom spat and killed the spider who shot it with ease. Its death came swift, a blessing in this point of life.
  
  The third spider did not have an easy death. It tried to keep a strong appearance. The fire crept to its location. It hissed and screeched, yet continued to retreat in the face of fire. The fine hair on its carapace was standing. The blue tongue of flame licked at its legs, causing it to screech out of pain. At one point, it had nowhere else to go. The blue fire engulfed its whole body, and it realized its foolishness. From the time it saw fire, it should have ran. Ran far and never returned.
  
  
  ---​
  
  Hm.
  
  Katie felt something was wrong with this Sage. The first thing he noticed was the blue eyes. He was pretty sure Sage's eyes were red. The second thing he noticed was the blue flame. Sage already said blue flame was a bad idea and that he should knock him out when blue flame came out. Well, here was blue flame. So, the next thing he should do was to knock him out cold!
  
  ...well, or he'd like to, but look at how efficient this Sage was! Sealed demons or whatever, This thing was definitely stronger than Sage! Even the fire looked different!
  
  And so, Katie decided to delay Operation Head-Hitting until the spiders were barbeque. He didn't even need to wait long; just a few seconds and the spiders were already losing. A few extra minutes and all of them were toast! The cat patted itself on the back for his genius. Look at him, making use of a demon! Well, he needed to start Operation Head-Hitting now. The cat's pupils shifted into a pentagon.
  
  "Hey, blue guy!" he called out loud.
  
  While 'Sage' was responding to his call, Katie did his real plan; ramming the magic sphere safekeeping Ratatoskr into Sage's head from the side with the speed of a magic sphere safekeeping a squirrel ramming into the head of some demon-possessed child could muster.
  
  "Head!" he shouted, self-satisfied.
  
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Daisy the Scout Spider
  Top of Yggdrasil​
  Creak
  
  Almost there! Daisy could feel it! All Daisy needed was one more push! Daisy was happy.
  
  
  ​

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Magically Infused Human / (?)
Yggdrasil's Fourth branch of Midgard,
falling back down.

Status: Knocked-out
Injury Log: First-degree burns,
strong hit to the head.

Damafaud​

The itsy bitty spider had tried running away... Swiftly, it could no longer go anywhere, a pointy tool made of solid fire pinning it to the tree itself as if in twisted punishment. The flames continued to advance, licking away at all life in its path, closing in around the frightened prisoner like a hungry beast. Soon the world itself had been a saturated raging blue, slithering upwards against the spider's legs. The sheer heat and subsequent pressure cracked its carapace under the blaze's might, fur singed, flesh little by little cooked, boiled and melted; A pain comparable to thousands of glowing-red needles all embracing its form, limb-by-limb, at once. The cry had been long, gradually growing higher, getting more desperate. Eventually, it would come to a halt, though the torture bestowed had been arguably the cruellest of its kind. The first of a sequence, near-perpetual warning of a slaughter to come.

The itsy bitty spider tried to avoid fate with a breath of frost... Fire nothing cared for the creature's attempts, a faint puff of quickly vaporized water as fleeting as any kind of hope the arachnid might have once held onto. The second time it had been met with a barrier of blue as another merciless bolt cut downwards the very air, unexplainably sharp, assuredly deadly. It perforated even through its exoskeleton, continuing into a straight path deeper into the daring one's torso, half-way in, dilacerating, burning. A soul-chilling cry rang through the branch, just a single, short note.
Two down.

The itsy bitty spider thought itself threatening and challenged the flames... Pathetic was perhaps not enough to describe how futile of an action it had been. Following the very first one, the creature's flesh had served as fuel for the funerary pyre, the violent torrent of blue consuming its body slow, but constant, eating away at everything it touched. The so-called warning had no meaning to the ongoing combustion, it could only hold at strength against something that was alive, something that cared for its survival, something that had that which to lose. Fire had not. Fire wasn't capable of knowing fear. All it knew was to destroy, to paint the world around it with flames until there was nothing left. A disharmonized duo of long, rising cries continued for what felt like an eternity, accompanied by a sadistic, entertained laughter until- Silence reigned once more.

Yggdrasil's fourth branch of Midgard was, at last, allegedly still. The fade-out of the third cry announced the end of the conflict.

It hadn't been enough to kill the trio of arachnids, neither would it have been to consume their left-behind vessels until even their ashes were gone. No. If there was something Fire certainly lacked was, the ability to maintain an objective... It wanted it all and as such, none of Its bonfires had remained contained to their initial radius, not that It had ever cared for such a thing. At the same time that the spiders had been cooked alive, so had been burnt the very bark of the branch they resided in, so had any greenery and objects that had stood in the flames' path or in immediate proximity, and so had, well, practically everything else that existed in that space.

The aim was devastation, and it all continued to burn with the same might that it had started with. Even after the fact...
It did not care for the Anomaly's mission and It most certainly did not care for the safety of Yggdrasil itself, this much would have been made quickly obvious.

Luckily for Katie, It could still get carried away and by consequence, distracted.

.Magic

0%

Output

As the final death cry still lingered in the air and the crackling of flames echoed all around, It had remaining hovering on the air, appreciating the sight of Its work with wicked delight. Despite what Its calm demeanor may have driven one to assume, the borrowed body wasn't without abuse, the low sizzle of burning flesh resounding under the might the blue flame-aura. Unlike the pyromancer's own warm orange fire, the blue variety wielded by the Entity was much too strong for what was essentially a human body. The same thing that maintained It afloat and unreacheable had the potential to harm, perhaps even kill the vessel it rode on, though, It apparently felt no difference. It was a mystery whether It could even feel any sort of pain at all.

So caught up in admiring the wrought forth devastation and about to kick things a notch at the lack of interruptions, it had slip Fire's mind the existing presence of the lunar cat. Perhaps, most likely, the feline had been forgotten as a result of underestimation; Dismissed as possibly being a threat. And thus in, humiliating, ridiculous fashion, It had turned around upon hearing its voice again, recalling facts a tad too late...

The sphere projectile had met its target with terrifying accuracy, flying through Its attempt to raise a shield-construct before it had solidified, unbothered by the little embers in its path and right into poor Sage's forehead. There was no defence against something that fast and bulky, it had been an instant knock out that would certainly leave a mark... And probably give the true owner quite the headache later.
With the body rendered unconscious, all magic output had been suddenly dropped to zero, effectively acting as a reset button. All still burning fire in the Yggdrasil quickly graduated back into the more familiar shade of orange, not fully gone but losing potency, standing now at a less harmful mere inches tall.

About the same time, with the fire-aura gone, Sage's motionless form had suddenly dropped from the air, a fall of about five feet, pulled by gravity back towards the fourth branch. Descending rather fast... If allowed to happen, this would also hurt. A lot.

 

[Damafaud]

• Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard
• The Top of Yggdrasil Tree

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Katie, Lunar Cat of Space
  Yggdrasil's Fourth Branch of Midgard​

  Necessity4Fun
  
  Ratatoskr' sphere hit its target with a satisfying smack. Katie had a smug grin on his face. Lo and behold, the glorious Katie Moon had succeeded with his genius plan. The pentagon in his eyes glowed brighter as a magic circle manifested on the thick branch. When Sage's body fell, the predicted impact did not happen. Moments before contact, he started falling upward for a brief second. The magic circle disappeared right after, leaving Sage to hit the branch with a soft thud. Headfirst.
  
  Katie frowned at the imperfect landing. That much should be fine, right? He already removed most velocity from the fall. Humans could be so squishy at times. The lunar cat floated close to the hero's head. He swiped the red hairs apart with his paw. Hm. It wasn't bleeding, good. Was this a bump? He had no idea.
  
  "Yup! Safe and sound!" he nodded, satisfied. Everything went well, all things considered. Heroes fainting after a fight was a normal occurrence. All he needed to do was to wait until Sage woke up and everything should be fine!
  
  Fire licked away at the body of Yggdrasil. Leaves were burnt. The carcasses were ash. Even so, the tree was left with nothing but a few scorch marks. Some black stains on the solid, vigorous wood of the branch. Even the leaves were not all on fire; it was as if a thin coat of water damped everything.
  
  At that moment, a strange wave rippled across the world. A single wave that wavered through the souls before vanishing. Katie turned his attention to the top of the tree, where he detected the source of the wave. For the first time since he arrived in this world, he felt a small sense of unease.
  
  If Sage was to check the quest log, he would notice its update.
  
  Spoiler: Quest Log

  
  

  
  Emergency Quest: Ratatoskr' Substitute
  
  Quest Objectives:
  

  • Secure the Scroll of Warning from the Third Branch of the World Tree
  • Deliver the Scroll of Warning in the place of Ratatoskr to the Serpent Níðhöggr at the roots of Yggdrasil
  • Prevent the Arachnid Army of Empress Dowager Resseu from stealing the Fruit of the World Tree

  Failure Conditions:
  

  • The loss of the Fruit of the World Tree
  • The death of Ratatoskr
  • The destruction of Yggdrasil

  Quest Rewards:
  

  • One-way Home Ticket
  • Negotiable Favour from Katie, the Lunar Cat of Space

  
  
• 
  
  
  

  

  
  

  Daisy the Scout Spider
  Top of Yggdrasil​
  
  

  

  
  
  When the last fibre of the stem was cut, the Fruit did not fall. No. The air rippled as if the Fruit fell into a body of water, and it stayed there. Floating. Daisy did not understand how the Fruit work. Why didn't it fell when it was cut? The Fruit was strange. Daisy stared at the Fruit with her beady eyes. Then, Daisy jumped onto it.
  
  The Fruit fell. For a few, unnoticeable inch. Even so, that was progress!
  
  Daisy let out a happy screech. Daisy knew what to do. Daisy needed to pull the Fruit down.
  
  
  ​