I stared at the giant... fluffy thing that just killed the ghoul.
Standing nearly three times my hight, its whole buddy is covered in smooth, clean looking fur. It stood on two short legs. It had a round body, giving the impression it was kind of chubby, and long arms that ended with long claws. It has large, crown like horns at the very top of its body. I say body because it didn't look like it had a neck or head. Instead, I think its face was on its chest because there was several red, wave-like markings there.
I... definitely saw this thing before, but I can't remember.
"Uhm... thanks for that," I mumbled, motioning to the splat was a ghoul. The large beast nodded, seemingly accepting the words of gratitude. "Are you here to fight?" The large beast shook its body left and right. "Ah, alright... do you happen to know a way to the Castle of Shadows?" I asked, hopefully.
The large beast turned around and began walking away with its chubby little feet. It stopped for a moment, turned halfway towards me, and motioned for me to follow it with one of its hands.
"Ah, you want me to follow you? Sure," I shrugged my shoulders and went after the creature.
It was probably not a good idea to trust a large beast I just met. But, something tells me this big guy is really trustworthy. I wish I can remember where I know him from.
Plus, he's really fluffy.
We kept walking until we got out of the field with the large boulders and started walking through an open wasteland. Soon enough, we reached one of the mountain sides where large cracks and gashes covered the ground.
Me and the creature stopped when a particularly large gash was in front of us. "Do you think there's a way around it?" I asked.
The creature didn't answer. Instead, it raised its arms straight upwards before it began leaning forward while its body remained still, not unlike a falling tree.
It fell forward, but not into the large hole, instead, its arms reached the other side while its legs remained on this one. It formed a bridge with its body.
"You want me to cross ON you?" I asked and it LOOKED like it was nodding. "Uh... thanks," I mumbled as l walked on the creature's back. Despite the soft fur, its body was really sturdy. When I made it to the other side, I put my sword away and held one of its hands. "Come on, let's get you across."
After some struggling, I managed to pull the large beast over the edge. I waited for it to stand up and start walking since it was the one guiding me, which it did soon enough. We kept walking for a while until the beast suddenly stopped at one of large caves at the side of the mountain.
"What's wrong?" I asked. The beast motioned to the cave. "Is there something there?" I asked. The beast walked inside the cave, turned around, raised its butt, and sat down. "Oh, you wanna rest? Alright."
The puppet body was getting tired anyway. Plus, he's guiding me, so he can rest if he wants. So, I walked up across from the beast and sat down. We just silently stared at each other.
"So... can you talk? Or do you not have the ability to?" I asked. It understood my request and questions, so it was definitely intelligent.
"Oh, I can talk just fine."
I blinked in surprise upon hearing his voice for the first time. It... didn't exactly sound human, but still really friendly. It kind of sounded like that chubby neighborhood kid that is friends with everyone.
"Then why didn't you say anything until now?" I asked.
"Well..." The beast raised one of its hands and scratched the side of its head(?). "I was just nervous-nos. You're kind of a big deal, Type Earth."
Did he just add -nos' add to his speech? "Wait, how do you know I'm Type Earth in this body?" I asked.
The big guy pointed at my face. "Your eyes-nunnos gave it away."
My eyes? I brought my sword close to my face and looked at the blunt-side to see my reflection. Sure enough, my eyes looked off.
Instead of normal pupils, I had the mark of the planet Earth in each iris, making my eyes look like plus signs. Sighing, I looked back to the furry guy.
"Well, thanks again for helping me find the castle. Damned Scathach just told me the general direction," I
said.
"No problem," he waved his hand as a sign it was nothing.
"By the way, my name is Zack. What's your name?" I asked, realising he must have a name if he's this intelligent.
"I'm the Celtic God of Beasts," The big guy started his introduction, puffing his chest in pride. "My name-nunnos is Cernunnos."
"So, Cernunnos, what brought you here?" I asked the beast god as we walked side by side.
Honestly, I was rather surprised. Not because of his identity itself, but because I haven't ran into any gods in the last few centuries, and barely any mystics after the separation.
"I was visiting Scathach," Cernunnos replied.
I blinked at him. "Why? Isn't she an enemy of the Celtic Gods?" I asked.
"Well, yeah, but..." Cernunnos began looking around at the Land of Shadows. "No one deserve-nos to be sent here to the end of time. No dreams or hopes can flourish in a land of sins and corpses. So, I make sure to visit her every once-nos in a while to make sure she's not lonely."
"Huh, that's really sweet of you," I smiled at the god.
"Thanks," Cernunnos scratched the back of his head before looking at me. "What about you? Why are you here?"
I sighed and shook my head. "My Reality Marble was annoying the planet so I had to find a way to travel without it. Scathach made me this puppet body in exchange that she trains me how to use it."
"Ah, so that's why you look human!" Cernunnos commented as he looked at me. "I'm kind of jealous-nos. I wish I can turn to a human like that."
I blinked a couple of times in surprise, nearly stopping from our journey and looked at him in confusion. "Can't you gods easily take humanoid forms?"
Cernunnos scratched the side of his head with one of his claws. "Well, not always-nos. Most gods can, but some like me have a specific authority that doesn't-nos allow that. I'm the god of Beasts, so I can't look human."
"Ah," I nodded, seeing the sense in that explanation.
We just quietly kept walking before Cernunnos spoke again. "I have to say, you're a lot more friendly than I thought."
"What do you mean?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do I have a bad reputation or something?"
Cernunnos shook his head. "No, no! It's just that...
there's rumours-nos that Type Earth favors humans and doesn't-nos like gods. So, I was just worried."
"Well, I like humans, true, but I wouldn't really side with them against the gods unless the other side did something," I answered with a shrug.
I mean, I killed humans for Medusa, a goddess, so you really can't say I've only fought gods for humans and all that.
We stopped as we saw a group of ghouls. Two normal ghouls and one warrior remnant. This one, holding an ax, was a bit more buff than the last one.
"Let me take care of that," Cernunnos was about to step forward but I stopped him.
"No, I appreciate your help, but you just focus on leading us. I'll handle the fighting," I said, drawing my sword and stepping forward.
"Are you sure? I really don't mind," Cernunnos asked.
"It's not about that," I replied, shaking my head. "If you fight for me, Scathach isn't gonna let me hear the end of it and say some crap about how I didn't earn my way here. Let me do the fighting and you just lead me to the castle, okay?"
Cernunnos nodded. "Alright, if you say-nunnos."
I stepped forward and held my sword up, the ghouls haven't noticed us yet, surprisingly. I can easily take down the two normal ones, but the remnant actually has some skill.
I may not be able to use elements properly yet in the puppet body, but there is something else I can use.
Taking a deep breath, I charged forward from behind the two normal ghouls. I swung my sword, putting all my strength in this swing and managed to take both their heads off in one attack.
Swinging back my sword the other way, I tried to cut into the remnant, only for them to block with their ax. I didn't allow that to stop my attack as I moved forward and headbutted the remnant.
The undead stumbled back a couple of steps, which allowed me to pull my sword back and use its tip to write something on the ground. I jumped back when the remnant regained its balance and charged at me.
Causing it to step on the Rune that says 'Fire'.
A pillar of flames burst from the ground, covering the undead. When the fire died out, the remnant stumbled forward, some parts of its body completely burned off.
I didn't give it the chance to recover and immediately cut off its head while it was dazed. The remnant's body dropped and began disappearing into dark mist.
"Oh, Primordial Runes?" Cernunnos commented as he walked closer, "I haven't seen-nos those in a while."
"You learn a few... well, actually a LOT of things when you're my age and have nothing better to do.
"You can do it!" Cernunnos cheered from the side.
You know, most people would find it annoying that they have someone cheering on them from the side of the battle because they find it distracting, but it's honestly great to have someone keeping your spirit up.
I guess cheerleaders and cheering squads were more important than I thought.
Back to the current predicament, I was fighting three warrior remnants this time. Normal ghouls got less and less the closer we got to the Castle of Shadows. Cernunnos said it was natural and confirmed my suspicion that Scathach picked the hardest area to set up her domain.
Freaking Celts and their battle-hunger.
I pushed away a warrior remnant that had a sword and dodged a stab from the one holding a spear. The last one, also holding a sword, came charging in from behind, swinging his sword down.
I dodged at the last second and stepped on his blade, keeping him in place as I spun around and sliced off his head. The spear remnant came charging at me again. I let the stab go under my arm, which gave me the chance to take hold of the spear's pole under my arm and use it to pull the remnant closer while throwing it off balance.
Taking the chance, I swung my sword in my remaining arm and took the spear remnant's head off. The last remnant came charging with its sword raised. I was still holding the spear from the last remnant, so when its body dropped and let go of it, I raised the spear and used it to block the attack.
I swung myself at the remnant's midsection, cutting its body in half. When the remnant's body dropped, I immediately stabbed my sword in its head and killed it off.
"Dammit, isn't that lady's job is to make sure the remains of warriors don't go out of control?" I groaned as I watched the remains of the warriors vanish.
"She's doing a decent-nos job," Cernunnos said as he walked closer. "There's usually much more. I guess-nos she left those ones to test you."
"Figures she'd try to make this hard on me," I groaned as I looked at the distance and we can actually see the castle of Shadows now... even if it's like a small pink dot, basically. "This is gonna take a while."
It did. It took us nearly two to four weeks to get to the Castle of Shadows. I don't remember the exact time because keeping track of it is a pain in a land with no sun or moon. Nearly a whole month of fighting harder and harder.
It would have taken longer without Cernunnos' help, which is something I'm grateful for.
"Urgh, almost there," I groaned as we me and Cernunnos climbed the side of a mountain.
I reached the top first. I turned began helping Cernunnos over the edge, which wasn't hard because he's actually quite strong so pulling himself up was easy, especially with my help.
When we turned around, I got a look at the Castle of Shadows for the first time. Honestly, it looks like something out of a princess story. Large towers with pointy tips, a large gate, and a bridge to boot.
The bridge was actually quite large and made of stone. At the end of the bridge was a dark figure that stood completely still, almost waiting for someone.
"I guess this is my final test," I groaned.
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Title :- One with Nature
All credits to XanaShadow
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