Imp above ^ *just imagine her with red skin and tiny horns
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SUN POV
In the last chapter, I mentioned the witches Imp knew... We never went to see them. Imp had offhandedly mentioned that her witch friends wouldn't be the best company around three gods-turned-animals, which was fine cuz Zero apparently got some good info while in the backroom with Nocturna.
At the current moment we're on a steam-powered tin can called a bus, it's supposed to take us to a park in the woods, where we'll take a trail to the entrance of a cave where Dark is supposed to be hiding.
"When are we gonna get there?"
"We'll get there when we get there."
The ride is supposed to take a few hours, since it's so far, so I've settled in the very back with Moon and Earth. We've been trying to nap, but the bus floor is hella hard and everyone else on the bus can't shut up. If I could perform spells, I'd cast a Bubble of Silence around us. Then again, if I could cast spells we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.
"...Are we there yet?"
"Earth, shut up. I don't know, okay? I'm not the one driving the bus. Go pester Imp, maybe she'll have an answer."
Earth and Moon have been arguing across me since we started moving. Earth stood up and walked to Imp's seat, climbing up and sitting next to her, mouth open before he'd even finished sitting down.
I sighed, closing my eyes(?) for a moment. The white noise of the bus rattling down the road was calming in a way.
"Sun, do you think we'll be able to stop Dark?" The soft voice of Moon filtered past the bus' chatter. I opened my eyes and turned my head to her. She sounded so small. Her muzzle was laid on her paws while she leaned into me, eyes gazing at the floor contemplatively.
"I can't say for sure, but we know his methods and we have the mortals, but..." I trailed off. I wasn't sure at all that we could stop Darkness. Sure we had the mortals who could fight and cast spells, but I didn't know if even they could defeat Darkness.
"...I think the odds will be in our favor. As far as we know, we have the advantage. We have Vane, who can heal and cast spells; Imp who can probably pull some witchy shit and claw Dark's face off with a Howler; and we have Zero, who is the leader-type and will think of a plan should ours fail."
"You do have a plan, right?"
"..."
I didn't have a plan.
--a timeskip dedicated to GuardianOfTheLoaf on AO3 who writes fucking amazing fics--
I still don't have a plan. It's been four hours, we've arrived and are standing outside the cave, and I still don't have a plan.
We've entered the creepy dark cave that smells like old stones and metal, led by Vane who cast a magelight spell, Earth who won't stop talking to Imp, Moon who can't help but sniff everything, and I still don't have a plan.
We've walked into four different wrong chambers so far, but I can tell we're getting close as I can feel the faint energy that my virtue gives off. It's hard to describe the feeling of my virtue, aside from the fact that it felt weird but that could be easily attributed to the fact that it wasn't with me, but I think the closest I can get is... Walking into an underground stone-nature-water library that hasn't seen anyone in eons. It's an ancient thing that emanates years upon years of knowledge, heavy knowledge.
I'm startled from my inner Virtue ramblings by the sound of Moon and Earth taking off into the gloom.
"OI! Where the fuck-"
Oh. OH .
There. In front of me. The Virtues. There they are... What kind of idiot puts the Virtues on a stalagmite in the middle of a pit? I know for a fact that Darkness can't fly because he's either a snake or a human so how-... Irrelevant, there are more important things to attend to.
I dash over to the edge of the pit beside Moon and Earth. Moon is pacing slightly and sniffing in the direction of what now appears to be a large bottle containing the Virtues. I glance into the darkness in the pit and I swear I can see something writhing down there. Hopefully it's not a nest of Blood Snakes, cuz that would actually suck. I turn to Earth.
"Earth, you can fly, do you think you can grab the Virtues?" Moon inquires while her eyes flicker between the bottle and the writhing darkness.
"Maybe, it won't be any-anything fast b-but I think I can do it." Earth shuffles while spreading his wings slightly.
"Alright."
Earth pushes off from the edge and slowly wobbles his way to the bottle. There must be an updraft we can't feel from here if he's wobbling so much.
"Moon, he's gonna take a while, we should check out the rest of this area to see if Darkness left some residual energy for us to track." Moon nods in my direction, heading back to the entrance of the tunnel. I turn in the opposite direction and start making a slow circle around the edge of the pit.
As I'm making my circle (and occasionally peering into the pit) I notice a series of stones almost opposite the pit from the entrance that're partially covered in a glowing toxic green viscous liquid. As I step closer I notice the stones mark the entrance to another tunnel. The light from the Virtues doesn't reach far into the tunnel, but it does give me enough light to see something I'd rather not right now. Spines. Black fade to blue spines. Lizard Howler spines. With wide eyes (can they even do that?) I turn back to the green stones. That's Lizard Howler blood . This is a Howler nest .
I begin to back up very slowly from where the entrance is when Imp calls out,
"Hey! Why'd you guys run off like that? We're part of this quest too ya know!"
I whirl around in a near-panic. We're in a cave with Lizard Howlers. We're in a cave with a Lizard Howler nest. We're gonna die in this cave if Imp doesn't shut up. I can't run to her, that'd give away my position to any enemies who haven't already seen me. I can't shout, that'd do the same thing. I frantically gesture (with as much grace as I can as a deerdog) for Imp to shut up, but she doesn't get the message.
"Hah? Sun what're you doin' wavin' your limbs about for? OOH! Shiny bottle!"
I send a deadpan stare in her direction. How has this woman survived for so long? I stiffen when I hear a hiss-growl-whine behind me. Oh shit . I slowly turn my head to look behind me. There are three Lizard Howlers crouched behind me. They have visible ribs and missing spines. Sharp teeth that aren't perfectly aligned and cracked claws. These are starving Lizard Howlers. I am now in deeper shit than before.
The one on the far left crouches to jump. I decide I can't fight all three and rather like living (despite being an immortal god) and book it. I see Earth making his way back to solid ground in the corner of my eye, but it's too late to change my trajectory to avoid him becoming a target. I let thorns rip out from my tail and take a spinning stop, hitting two of the Howlers head on. The third one tries to lunge from behind the two prone Howlers but gets a face full of Moon's teeth.
While Moon and the third Howler are busy, I turn to face the first two Howlers who are now getting up. They look scarier and angrier than before. The left one clearly took the brunt of the thorns while the right one took more blunt force from being hit by a body. They rattle their spines in anger before charging at me again. I don't have the advantage of surprise this time and the Howlers have learnt their lesson about my tail. The left one charges at me, and I deflect him with my horns (antlers?). Left gets impaled a bit and while I'm flinging him into the pit behind me, Right slides under me and shoves his spines into my softer underbelly. I leap back and up a few feet but the deed has been done. I try to keep standing long enough to throw Right into the pit with his friend, but my legs give out the moment I land.
My sight is blurred a bit, but I do manage to fend off two or three attacks from Right with my antlers(?) before Moon comes to the rescue. She must have finished with the third one. My head bobs a bit as I watch her drag Right to the pit by his neck. I'm still watching her glare into the pit when my consciousness decides to check out.
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Lizard Howler Art