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.​

 

[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?