𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐛𝐢𝐞 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝

[84]

𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩, 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨.

Belos trudged through the empty forest, leaving a trail of goo and muck behind him, squelching as he moved weakly, his body disintegrating beneath him. He panted in exhaustion, sucking in breaths in desperation as he reached a wall of rock that lay before him.

Letting out gasps from the pangs of pain he experienced, he struggled to draw a glyph from the goo of his leaking finger, the liquid-like substance leaking down slowly as he managed to complete the diagram.

With impatience, he slammed his hand against the drawing, a red glow outlining the glyphs as the cracks in the stone began to glow the same shade of red, forming an outline before rumbling, the stone moving aside to reveal a pathway.

Belos struggled to keep himself upright, crawling as he finally reached the centre of the cavern which was littered with broken masks and bones. Exhaustion took over him, and he clawed his way through the cave, halting when he felt a presence appear near him.

His eyes widened and he peered to his right, a crowd of ghosts standing on the pile of broken masks and skulls, yet only one of them was unmasked. Seeing their condescending stare, Belos grumbled, his frown growing as he pulled himself forward.

"Oh shut up," He groaned, dragging himself to a room that was all too familiar to him.

Collapsing under his own body, the now eldritch horror dragged himself across the ground due to his feet no longer functioning. He muttered to himself, spotting rectangular stone containers filled with dirt, and purple vines sticking into them.

"There has to be one left..."

The room was filled with a sickly green light as the monster spotted a hand sticking out of the dirt, his eyes widening at the opportunity as he launched himself towards the body, screeching as he lunged into the corpse.

A minute of silence passed before the appendage twitched, the monster gaining control of the body.

–––

Collector grinned, giggling and whooping as Kyle flew through the air, King gripping onto brown fur as the winged wolf twirled around, much to Collector's enjoyment.

The wolf flew past translucent purple curtains, Collector cheering as he hopped off while King began to speak. Kyle lowered himself closer to the ground for the small Titan to get down easier before shifting back into his witch form.

"Boy, oh, boy! We were gone for a while," King grunted as he landed. "I should probably, uh, go check on the ol' Owl Beast. Maybe get her something to eat."

"What do mortals eat anyways?" Collector hummed in question, flipping himself upside down while floating in the air.

"Rocks? Fire? Gravity?" 

Collector grinned, arms opening wider with each guess while Kyle looked at the child with a concerned frown, King giving the child an expression that read 'are-you-serious'. Before either could respond to the child's guesses, a woman with mint-green hair walked down the grand staircase, a welcoming smile on her face.

"Welcome home, Collector," Odalia grinned, arms open wide as she watched the child float around. "Did you have a pleasant adventure?"

"Aunt Odalia, we need to feed the Owl Beast," Collector chimed, landing on the staircase with a hum. "Hmm... how bout pizza bagels!"