Undergrowth

Smoke, ash, and rainfall clouded the sky overhead as the roar of a burning village clashed with bellowing thunder. Their scarcely ten souls left living in the wake of the relentless flames, children and soldiers curled up in the mud and clinging to last to the last thread of life as a cold wind tried to tug it away. At the broken village gates, a single warrior stood guard over the burning husks of buildings and what few survivors still remained. Covered in blood and sweat and scars, the lone soldier gasped for breath and scanned the horizon.
Thirteen… Should be just thirteen left… The wind shifted and smoke rushed down out of the village gates and escaped into the forest beyond. In the distant darkness, a faint golden glow flickered and faded away as the trees at the forest's edge trembled. I just have to kill thirteen more, and then they'll be safe…

Stumbling off balance, the warrior's feet stuck in the mud as lightning cracked the sky and raindrops sizzled on the smoldering embers of ruined homes. With the flames finally dying down, a dark cloud descended from the trees and consumed the village gates. As the wind whistled among the reeds, thirteen shadows rushed out from the undergrowth, their golden eyes gleaming as the village's last remaining warrior raised her bow and took a deep, bitter breath.

Rena woke with a start, her body still as her eyes shot open and darted around the room. The sharp pain in her spine told her that she'd been out for at least an hour, collapsed upon a knot of gnarled vines and rough cut stone. Cautiously, she raised her head and listened for any sound or sign of life around her. Silence, broken by the faintest breath and a fragile moan. Rolling up to her feet and grabbing her bow, Rena studied her surroundings and searched for her companions.

A sea of vines and foliage covered the rusted iron terrace in which Rena found herself and spilled down the weathered stone stairs at her feet. Whatever had happened after she lost consciousness in the cloister, it had somehow left are here in the midst of an overgrown indoor jungle, bathed in a faint, artificial glow that danced across her skin like sunlight trickling down through the waves. Although nearly every inch of the ground was covered with a different vine, flour, or shrub, the landscape was oddly dull and surprisingly colorless. Fortunately, that made it easy to spot the bright tuft of golden hair and ivory sticking out from a pile of leaves nearby.

"…Chung?" Rena knelt down and brushed the leaves away, revealing Chung's flustered face and swimming eyes. For a moment, he didn't move or respond and Rena reached down and poked his forehead. "Are you alright?"

"Ah!" Chung bolted upright and patted the leaves nearby, searching frantically for his Destroyer. "Where- what is the- I'm-" He stood up and almost immediately collapsed back onto his knees, his speech slurred and his vision clouded. Hitting the ground with a quiet gasp, he slumped forward and nearly hit the ground before catching himself and rocking back onto his heels. Sitting back against the crackling leaves, he blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked up to Rena.

"…Rena? Where-" He looked around slowly, noticing the ghostly light on his skin and the tangle of plants all around him. As he drank in his surroundings, his eyes widened and a faint terror crept across his face. "Oh my God are we dead!? Rena I don't want to be dead yet…" As his lip quivered and he fought back a single tear, Rena smiled and patted Chung on the head.

"Well, I doubt we're dead, and even if we are, I wouldn't worry about it too much." She looked up and stared at the blanket of flora overtaking granite and steel, their leaves and vines consuming the fortress of stone, "Besides, if we are dead, this place isn't so bad, is it?"

Chung sniffled, blushing slightly and clearing his throat as he rose to his feet and glanced away. "Ah, well, I-I guess so…"

Rena giggled as she hopped up and leaned forward, stretching her legs out and then raising her arms overhead. "Alright~ How do you feel? Do you think you'll be good to walk for a bit? We should start looking for everyone else."

"Oh, sure. Wait-" Chung spun around suddenly, his eyes darting around the room, "Where's my Destroyer?"

"Hm?" Rena looked around, searching the corners of the room until a brilliant shine caught her eye. Glistening in the shadows, Chung's cannon lay lodged in the top of an iron gate. Without a moment's pause, Rena climbed up onto the gates and pulled herself up and grabbed the cannon's handle.

"Ah, be careful, it's really hea-" Chung held his hand out as Rena lifted the Destroyer and gently lobbed it toward the ground. "-vy…"

Smiling, Rena hopped down and dusted off her shoulders. "Oh, I guess it was pretty heavy."

"Um, yes…" Chung stared in disbelief, picking up the cannon as he headed toward the gate. "R-Rena, how…"

"Hmmmmmm?" She smiled over her shoulder as she kicked the gate opened. "Is there something wrong?"

Chung shook his head out and hoisted his Destroyer over his shoulder. "No, it's fine…" He fell in line behind Rena and headed into the underground garden.

"Trace the sigil here and then- Yes, just like that, you've got it!" Penensio slapped Elsword on the shoulder as a tiny flame sprouted forth from a small rune scribed into the soil at Elsword's feet. Although a broad grin covered Penensio's face, Elsword didn't seem impressed.

"…So what?" Elsword glared at the sparkling rune skeptically. "I can already make fire, and way better than that."

"Well, don't look so disappointed." Penensio chuckled, "it might seem small it first, and it's certainly not the strongest magic, but the power of the runes comes from the rune itself. No matter how many times you scribe that rune out, you'll never get tired and you'll never use up your own energy."

Elsword stared blankly at the small sparkling fire and blew it out. "So when do we get to do the bigger stuff?"

"Haha, don't be so impatient!" Penensio reached into his pack and pulled out a small, round stone tablet. "Eventually, you'll be able to scribe a sigil onto a stone like this, and you'll be able to call on the runes without having to draw them every time. But, before you inscribe your tablet, we've got to work on your penmanship."

Elsword grumbled and scowled, picking up a small twig and drawing another rune on the ground at his feet. Nearby, Aisha glanced side-long at Elsword as she sat with her grimoire open on her lap, aimlessly tracing her fingers over a page that she had already read a dozen times. Next to her, Eve turned her attention away from Raven and Oberon as they sharpened their swords, walking over a tangle of vines and sitting on the stairs next to Aisha.

"Aisha, you appear to be unwell. You have been reading the same page for nearly an hour."

"What? Oh…" Aisha looked up from her grimoire, her eyes unfocused and thoughts absent from the page. "No, I'm fine. Just kind of tired, I guess…"

"You seem to have read the entirety of this book several times." Eve stared down at the musty pages of Aisha's grimoire with an intense curiosity, "Are you able to gather new information from it in this way?"

As a curtain of artificial light danced away, Aisha scowled and clapped her grimoire closed. "No." She piled her books into her pack and latched it shut with a swift tug. "But it's not like I've got anything else to read."

"Is that a problem for humans?" Eve opened her console and brought up an array of windows and displays full of text and diagrams. "I can provide additional reading materials if you would like."

"Oh, thanks, but…" Aisha gave a faint smile and her eyes fell to the floor. "It's not that I need something to read. I need more tomes and grimoires. I was kicked out of school, so I've had to study magic on my own since then. So when I finish a book, that's it… I've figured a few things out on my own, but it takes so much longer than just reading about it."

A ray of frosted light filtered down across Aisha's face as she leaned back on her arms and stared up toward the ceiling. Although the stone ceiling stretched out as far as she could see, she couldn't trace any sort of support or foundation for it to rest on. Eve had said something to her, though her frustration had dampened her senses and drowned her in murky silence. Although everything had been fine so far, she could already tell that she was far more exhausted than everyone else. She hadn't been pacing herself; for some time now, she had been fighting at full strength just to keep up with everyone else. The curse she'd been living with for years was finally starting to slow her down, and the thought that she might be only days or even hours away from finally reaching the furthest extent of her abilities left her stomach in a twisting, aching knot. She was so distracted by her worries that she scarcely even noticed when Eve closed her console and headed back down the mossy stairs. She scarcely noticed Elsword pouting and huffing at his sloppy runes as they coughed up smoke and dust. More than that, she didn't even notice the small, slender vines slithering toward her as she brushed off her hands and rose to her feet.

A quiet crunch echoed from underfoot as Chung landed softly on a pile of brown, shriveled vines and joined Rena on a faint, narrow path through an ivy-wrapped hall. After nearly an hour of wandering through the garden, they had yet to see a sign or trace of their companions. After fighting against the ivy and trudging through the corridor, they arrived on a great, circular platform that rose high above the rest of the garden's terraces and steppes. Unlike the other areas, this small sanctuary was bursting with vivid color and crisp, freshly watered leaves covered every tree and shrub. All around them, an almost invisible glass dome surrounded the platform and filtered the faint blue light that rained from above into a warm, golden glow. A series of magical glyphs carved into the surface of the glass sputtered and sprayed a cool cloud of mist every few minutes, and the stones that lined the floor were engraved with the greatest care and framed in gold filigree. With no other exit than the ivy-coated hall, however, this was also a dead end.

As the scent of a hundred freshly blooming roses filled the air, Rena smiled faintly and plopped herself down on a smooth stone bench. "Let's take a rest here, just for a little while. This looks like the highest point in the garden, so we might be able to spot them if we stick around for a little bit."

"Do you think I could signal Eve from here?" Chung propped his canon up against the central arbor, glancing down at the dark pit surrounding the small platform. Closing her eyes for just a moment, Rena breathed in slowly and tapped her heels against the ground.

"Let's do it. I don't know if she or anyone else will see, and we'd also be announcing our position to everyone and everything down here, but… well, at least there's only one path here, and I doubt anyone will try to ambush us while we're still in here." She smiled brightly and hummed to herself. "If anything, they'd attack us right as we left when we were stuck in that narrow hall~"

"That's not very reassuring…" With more than a little hesitation, Chung steadied his Destroyer and pressed a small switch just below the barrel. As he toggled the switch back and forth, the cannon's barrel flashed brightly and cut through the shimmering veil of artificial light outside. After his message was complete, he waited anxiously for an answer to shine through the shadows of the garden's outer rim. More than a minute later, a bright, flickering beacon shot through the air and Chung ran toward the edge of the platform, his hands pressed against the glass as he read off Eve's response. At the end of her message, he leaned back and sighed softly.

"They're all okay, and they're all together too." He smiled happily, though the worry remained on his face. "She said that they'll try to make their way over here, so we should stay here and wait for them."

"Good." Rena nodded quietly to herself. "It'll be a bit unnerving, but it'll be easier for them to find us if we stay put, and they'll be safer travelling in a larger group… at least I hope so. In the meantime, we should rest…" She stretched her arms out over her head and reclined on her granite bench, her back pressed flat against its cool, polished stone surface. "And you should start talking while we're at it."

"Talking?" Chung dropped his Destroyer to the ground and sat on its side, his arms resting across his thighs as his shoulders sank. "About what?"

"Well~" Rena's voice rose as she turned her head aside and stared at Chung curiously. "You can start by telling me why you still look so worried even though everyone's safe."

"I look worried?" He raised his hands and patted his face, "That's..." his voice dropped and he fell silent for a few second. "I don't know why, but I keep thinking about the soldiers that got hurt fighting that golem. If I hadn't been-"

"Ah, stop right there." Rena turned herself and sat upright, "I know you feel responsible for that… and I understand that feeling, but it's not your fault. You didn't break that soldier's arm, the golem did, so don't blame yourself."

"But," Chung's eyes dulled and his stomach tensed up, "It's true that if I had been stronger, if I wasn't so slow, then they would still be alright."

Rena pulled her feet beneath the bench and set her hands out at her side, the muted red of a withering rose reflected in her eyes as she spoke. "How would you have gotten stronger than you are now? What more could you have done? You've been training for months, haven't you?"

"Then, I should have done more!" Chung's voice cracked just as deeply as his composure. "There were so many times that I spent an hour talking with miss Eve or wandering around the island… if I hadn't done that, then maybe I'd be better prepared to…" His voice broke away, catching on the branches and leaves all around and falling silent against the stone floor. As he bit his lower lip, Rena hopped up, plucked a spring of baby's breath, and offered it up to woeful prince.

"Is that what you really want out of this life? Didn't you enjoy spending time with Eve and Oberon? Weren't you glad to have them around?" As she held out her hand, Chung slowly and curiously accepted the flowers she offered and soon her familiar, soothing smile had set him at ease. As he relaxed, Rena's eyes fell. "I know… or rather, I understand what it feels like, to be one of the last left alive, to still be standing after everyone around you has fallen, and then to feel like that… to think, 'If I survived, then why couldn't I save everyone else? If I had only worked harder before the battle, then this would have never happened.' But, that's wrong… sometimes, you could have done more, and it might have helped but, most of the time no amount of work or strength or even raw power can save everyone. And besides all that," She perked up and poked Chung in the shoulder softly, "I doubt that soldier would have wanted you to sacrifice all the happiness in your life just so that her arm wouldn't break. You bought enough time to save her life… you might not realize it because you're always around Aisha and Elsword, but for someone your age that's really amazing."

"I- but… that's…" Chung fumbled with his words, his tongue tripping over his teeth as he slowly accepted Rena's reply. "I think… you're probably right. I still feel so frustrated though, and, it never gets better. Every time I see someone get hurt around me, it makes me sick and it feels like I'm being stabbed in the chest, and it never gets better no matter how much time passes… I… just-"

"It will get better." Rena leaned forward and slipped a scarlet lily behind Chung's ear, "I know that for certain. I promise you, it will get better."

Blushing softly, Chung nodded as a faint, pensive smile spread across his face. "Thanks… I don't-"

In an instant, the calm atmosphere of the garden shattered as Rena dove forward and pulled Chung to the ground, rolling behind an arbor as a poison soaked arrow slipped in between the polished roots of a winding rosebush. In less than a minute the roses all wilted, their leaves turned black, and their roots ripped themselves apart as the poison seeped into the soil.

"Rena, what-"

"Shh. Stay down." Rena whispered into the cold stone as she peered through the maze of petals and ivy. "…There's a marksman past the hallway there."

Chung nearly bolted up, catching himself just before he pushed off of the ground, "Ah! But, when miss Eve and the others come by this way…"

"Yeah…" Rena glared sharply, cupping her hand behind her ear and searching for the faintest rustling of leaves or the snapping of a twig. After nearly ten minutes in almost absolute silence, she slowly slid her hands beneath her and glanced aside to Chung.

"…We've got to get through that hallway. If we wait much longer, everyone else will walk into an ambush, and we've got no way to signal them from here. Are you ready to run?"

Chung paused a moment, nodding slightly as he reached out and grabbed the handle of his Destroyer. An electric chill passed across his shoulders and down his spine as he raised his head and the crumpled husk of a scarlet lily fell from his hair. He hadn't known Rena for very long, but even so, he could tell that her usually warm smile had turned cold, almost bitter as she stared down the ivy-covered hall. Before he could spend any more time wondering what was going through her mind as such a painful smile spread across her face, Rena tapped his shoulder and they both bolted from the room.

Almost immediately, a sharp howl sliced through the air. As a toxic arrow sailed toward them, Rena slid down, pulled back her bow and released a burst of air, knocking the arrow up into the ceiling. With the ivy rotting all around them, Rena and Chung rolled out of the hall, pausing behind the Destroyer as another arrow broke against its surface and splintered across the floor. As another whistling bolt split the air, Rena dove behind a slender pillar and Chung rolled aside and ducked below broad ledge. For another three minutes, they all sat motionless as Rena scoured the air for the sounds of motion. After what seemed like an eternity of silence trapped in the breadth of a minute, Rena motioned aside to Chung slowly. At first he didn't understand what she meant, but after the second signal, he knew exactly what she needed him to do. As quietly as he could, he loaded an explosive shell into his cannon and, with a sudden crash, he slammed it into the ground and fired off a hissing rocket that spiraled around the room before smashing into a larger support beam on the far side of the chamber.

The blast destroyed the pillar outright and the moment it crumbled, a huge, glass-eyed demon leapt from the tangle of vines that hung from the ceiling, launching a stream of arrows that just barely missed Chung as he dove back beneath his cover. Leaping to her feet, Rena rushed out into the open, sending a volley of bolts through the air as she ran across the room. Although three of her shots met their mark, the demon only staggered as it pulled an oozing dagger from its waist and ran toward her. Hopping back, she narrowly avoided the stinging poison that dripped from the tip of the demon's blade, spinning around it and kicking its knees out as she darted toward the far side of the room. The demon spent scarcely a second on the ground, however, and quickly spun around to strike Rena in the back; just as he turned, however, His blade clashed against Chung's Destroyer, chipping and shattering from the force of his strike and leaving a shallow gash in the cannon's surface.

Snarling and spitting, the marksman grabbed Chung by the throat, picking him up and hurling him into a towering statue that cracked and groaned as he fell against it. Discarding his broken dagger, the demon drew his bow and aimed at Rena, just as she took position across the room aiming right back at the demon's eyes. For a moment, neither of them moved. This sort of standoff was something that Rena had lived through a dozen times in the past, and each time death's hand brushed against her own and nearly took hold. If they both fired at the same time, they would both die in an instant. Even if one of them fired first, the other could still release their bow in time to ensure a kill. Because of this, a standoff between archers could last for hours… the only way one person could come out victorious and walk away alive was if they could force their opponent into a state of fatigue, or catch them at a moment when their concentration wavered. She had done it twelve times in the past hundred years, though by the look of her opponent's eyes she knew that she may very well be outmatched here. There was just a single path for her to take, and it would only be open for the slightest fraction of a second.

Releasing her bow, she leapt back as her arrow sailed through the air and immediately plucked her bowstring again, blasting both her arrow and the demon's across the room and clattering to the floor. Climbing quickly onto the column behind her, she bounded through the air and her opponent followed suite. As they passed one another in the air, they each drew their bows and fired. Once again, Rena released a burst of wind that knocked their bolts off target, and the demon rolled to the ground hissing and growling. As it turned and leveled its bow for a final shot, a thin, silver string glistened in the garden's ghostly blue light. Before the demon could fire another shot, Rena tugged on the silver strand, pulling the arrow she had set off course back toward her and lodging it deep into the back of the demon's neck. With a faint gasp and a tortured, gurgling cough, the demon lowered its bow and collapsed to the ground.

As a soft breeze brushed the hair from her cheek, Rena lowered her eyes and marched toward her opponent. Standing over the hulking corpse, she drew back her bow and prepared to fire an arrow right through the demon's skull. As her fingers began to slide away from the string, she sighed heavily and a single bead of sweat fell across her brow. Closing her eyes, she slowly drew down her bow and walked away.

"Over here~" Rena waved cheerfully as Aisha and Eve passed nearby, "Is everyone alright?"

"Hey, we found them!" Aisha shouted down the hall as she and Eve made their way over to Rena and a groggy, vaguely disoriented Chung. Sitting upright with his head hanging down, Chung's ears were still ringing from his abrupt meeting with the now crumbling statue in the garden plaza, though fortunately his overall injuries were few and fairly minor. Within moments, Elsword, Oberon, Raven, and Penensio joined them, and the lot of them moved on toward the garden's lowest chamber. Along the descent, Chung began to drag his feet and Eve slowed herself to match his pace.

"Chung, are you feeling unwell?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine." She smiled and brushed his bangs aside and out of his eyes. "Just thinking too much, that's all."

Eve turned to him and blinked. "I was unaware that human brains could overheat from thinking. This is a problem the Nasod had solved centuries ago… if you like I can attempt to install a supplemental cooling unit for you."

"Ah, no, that's…" Chung laughed quietly and shook his head. "That's not what I mean, I'm not overheating, just... I didn't realize that Rena had such a sad life before…"

Eve paused for a moment before continuing her descent. "She spoke to you about her past while we were separated?"

"No, not exactly…" Chung hefted his Destroyer up and stared off into the distance. "I don't know, maybe I'm guessing wrong but, it just felt that way, when we were talking, I just got the sense that she'd gone through a lot of really painful things, and I suddenly didn't know what to say to her…"

"…I see." Eve closed her eyes for a moment before turning aside to Chung. "It is true that Rena has lived longer than any of us. Even though my body is far older than hers, she has experienced far more than I have and likely more than any of us. It is likely that… any creature living a certain number of years will experience at least a few instances of intense pain, but Rena does not often show signs of any past trauma. You do not need to worry about her. She may have experienced more pain than any of us, but she is also the strongest out of all of us as well…"

Chung stared at the solemn, almost reverent gleam in Eve's eyes and then smiled. "It sounds like you really look up to her."

"T-that…" Eve turned away and began walking more quickly. "…would not be entirely incorrect…"

After nearly an hour of climbing down the slick and mossy stairs, they finally arrived at a grand stone circle, enshrined by a ring of massive, almost beast-like topiaries and vines. At the center of the circle, a small, broken sigil sputtered and spat sparks through the air. Approaching with caution, Aisha and Penensio studied the magic circle and came to the same conclusion.

"Well, the good news is that it looks like this is a gate that'll take us up to the heart of the spire! We'll be at the top in no time at all!" Penensio swept his cape aside as he stood and nodded with his fits on his hips.

"That's the bad news too though…" Aisha scowled wearily. "It looks like the only way we can go from here is straight up, and there might not be any way for us to get back down to the campsite from there. Worse than that, the sigil's broken, so someone will have to stay behind and complete the circuit for the gate to work."

"Tch…" Raven frowned and crossed his arms. "So our options are either stay here and rot away, or charge ahead into the middle of the enemy ranks and fight our way out…"

"Oh come on, that's not so bad~" Rena slapped him on the back and sent him staggering forward. "Think of it as sneaking in behind enemy lines. Maybe we can even take out their leaders while we're there~"

"Yeah!" Elsword's eyes lit up suddenly and he nodded to Rena. "We can go in and smash through them in no time, and then we'll just go on and seal the gate at the top and have 'em all cleared out by tomorrow!"

From the circle's edge, Aisha shot him a cold, skeptical glare. "There's no way it'll go that smoothly…"

"Hahaha!" Penensio chuckled as he moved into position at the base of the sigil. "At the very least you've got to admit that his enthusiasm is inspiring."

"If by inspiring you mean nerve-wracking…" Aisha muttered beneath her breath as she sighed and drew her wand. "Alright, is everyone ready?"

"Oh no, not you…" Penensio put his hand on the tip of her wand and pushed it down. "I'll be the one staying behind here, so hurry on into the circle."

"That's pointless though." Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him over her shoulder. "You're a stronger fighter so you should go with everyone and make sure they make it out safe."

"Hm, well, even if you're right there, which I'm a bit skeptical of, it makes more sense for the stronger person to stay on his own, doesn't it? That way, there's a better chance of everyone surviving, not just the group that goes into the spire. Ah!" Penensio leaned back and laughed heartily. "All this heavy talk about surviving and leaving people behind! Don't worry so much, there's a chance you'll end up somewhere completely safe and have a clear path to the exit, and we've scarcely seen more than a half-dozen demons down here in the gardens so it's probably even safer than the camp!"

Aisha grimaced, agreeing begrudgingly as she took her place inside the circle. Soon after, everyone else joined her and Penensio drew his blade, driving it into the floor and completing the broken sigil.

"Stay safe, and try to remember to send someone down for me when you get the chance!" Penensio grinned as a stream of Runes gleamed across his sword. With the circle now alight beneath his feet, Elsword clenched his fists and shouted over the sound of crisp, crackling magical energy.

"T-Thanks! For teaching me about the runes, and- and-"

"Hahaha, don't mention it." A smug, confident smile crept across Penensio's face. "And don't thank me just yet! You can do that once we're back at camp. Good Luck to all of you…" His voice lowered and he drew his hands across his blade, sending a shower of sparks through the air. "And make it out alive, alright?"

A loud shriek echoed through the air and a blinding flash filled the room as the gateway opened and ferried everyone but Penensio off to the Heart of the Spire. As the sound and light faded away, he pulled his sword from the ground and brushed off his hands.

"Heh… they might think I'm the stronger one right now, but," He grunted as he rolled his shoulder and rubbed the side of his neck. "It won't take more than a year for all of those kids to surpass me. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they really did defeat the demon's general on their way out. Now…" He stretched his neck out and gripped his sword, turning slowly as a massive shadow descended over him. All around, the vines and leaves had come to life, their flowers twisting into fangs and their stems fusing into a trio of colossal spines. As he the gateway sigil behind him flickered out and faded away, he looked up at the three monstrous beasts that had formed around him and grinned.

"…Let's take care of you three, all at once." With his sword bursting into flames and an icy rune forming in his open hand, he charged toward the wall of gnashing teeth as a wave of vines spilled across the floor and rushed out toward him.