Paths : Mandy x Chester

Paths Snippet : The Biggest Question

"What do you think's down there?" Chester asked nervously, his hands full of candies for defence.

"No idea," I murmured, aiming my scepter into the cowl of darkness that was the cave in front of us.

"It can't be another villain, r-right?" The man behind us asked nervously, his teeth chattering. "And why is it so c-c-"

"Shh," I shushed him, putting my finger on my lips as a signal. It took several more seconds before I whispered, "I...I hear something."

Our trio fell dead silent, the only sound being the wind whipping and nipping them. Until a loud roar echoed from inside, and the three tensed, holding up their weapons.

And suddenly, a huge beast emerged from the cave, its fangs dripping with green, venomous saliva, its claws sharp and shining, and its body at least three times the size of a normal human.

"It's their third beast..." Chester whispered, his hand shaking as he looked it in its single, despair-filled eye.

"Read it," I commanded.

The man behind shut his eyes and turned invisible, the only sign of him being there a few incoherent mutterings. But they knew well enough that the beast could smell him easily.

"Got it," He shouted as he raised his bow and aimed at the creature.

"Well???" I prompted as I darted aside, narrowly avoiding being crushed by a large claw that thundered down where I was standing.

"It's name is Solace. Basically, it can conjure a blue bolt, and if it strikes you with the bolt, you'll instantly be panged with so much loneliness and despair, you probably can't move at all. It also has a stigma that allows it to freeze you instantly if you look it in the eye. Once the eye turns blue, it stuns its enemies, and the spell can only be undone if you knock the beast back and stop it from exerting its power."

Just as he said that, Chester was frozen by the monster's blue eye.

I leaped forward before the monster could swipe, and jabbed my scepter into its side, making it howl and flinch, setting Chester free.

He continued, "Its special object is an ice-blue pearl. That allows him to exert control over people's focus. It has a power rating of 87, making it extremely deadly. It's the guardian of the third Pearl of Power, the one of Concentration. But getting the object from it will be near impossible, because it has an insanely thick hide, and it can heal its injuries."

"How do we defeat it then?" Chester shouted, fending off Solace with a large broadsword before he lobbed explosive candies at its feet. "It's invulnerable to everything I have, and-"

Chester yelled as he was flung backwards into a mound of snow.

I helped to cover him with my scepter, shooting out a giant ray of sugar at the beast and forcing it away. Then, I let my weapon spin, conjuring a blast of rainbow energy and slamming it against the beast's chest, sending it flying far back.

Our "assistant" told us, "Frankly, I'm not sure. But I think the best option would be to restrain it and perhaps use Chester's power to stun it, then we'll be able to get its power. But we have to move fast, because Chester's stun only works for a while. And with the beast's power of anti-focus, everything could go very wrong very fast."

"Well, we gotta try," I told them.

"But there's a problem," he stopped us. "I scanned the thing...and I found the blue pearl...inside him. So...we need to cut it open to get the pearl."

"But since it's invulnerable..." I murmured.

"We can't," Chester continued my string of thought. "So..."

"We need him to take it out by himself." He finished.

"But...how?" I asked.

And that was the big question.