Life in a new Kingdom

"CAL!" Drawing her bow, Lukia fires an arrow into the jaws of the Stalker. The jaws recoil back before slamming shut. The chin of the creature slams into the ground and kicks Caleb into the air. Landing with a thud, he rolls to his side and draws his sword to defend himself.

"It's chest..!" Pointing out the undamaged area, the Stalker was unscathed by any damage dealt by Caleb. The magic Caleb used had hit an illusion. Lukia shoots a few more arrows to push the creature back so that he can escape from danger—blood trails from his hand and onto the dirt.

She grabs his swollen, bleeding hand and quickly casts a healing spell to heal the damage. The bright green light swirls around and repairs the flesh that the spell had ripped apart. Regaining the feeling in his hand, he clenches it tightly around his sword. Lukia observes the Stalker's movements as it begins to circle them slowly.

"What are we to do now? If it won't allow an opening for any of your magic to strike it, how do we catch it off guard?"

"This Stalker has a grudge against you, if we can bait it into chasing you, we could get it out in the open."

Lukia turns to Caleb with a troubled look. "You want to use me!?" Her outburst is warranted; Caleb reassures her with a simple smile.

"I know you can do it."

"What about its mist? If any one of us goes headfirst into that mess, we are good as dead. The illusions are getting better by the minute the longer we fight."

"Thankfully, Tempest is why this will work. Just trust me, okay? If it figures out what we are planning, we are as good as dead. I'm counting on you to get him close enough for me to unveil him." His strategy was sound. The chances of them winning or dying depend on inflicting a significant blow on the Stalker. If that can happen, the creature would have to focus on surviving instead of producing its mist.

"Give me a signal when it's ready. I'll lead him around." Grasping her scarf, she tightens it to secure her face from the mist. The smokey substance parts around her the moment she steps forward. The dizzying feeling of the spell still takes hold of her senses. She knocks an arrow and draws it the moment she reaches the point they devised. "I'm right here! You big ugly bastard! You don't scare me!"

The visage of the Stalker crouches to all fours and turns its neck to the left and right before shrieking. The mist cloaks its approach, swirling around to attack. Taking a gamble, Lukia jumps into the creature. The moment she does, it parts away like a puff of smoke. Turning her bow behind her of open Jaws of the Stalker, her lips utter the ancient words of Rangers.

"Bramble Shot!" Infusing her bowstring with magic, the flow swirls around the knocked arrow, causing tiny branches and vines to grow at the arrow's base. Holding her breath, she tumbles to the ground with the bow still strung before crouching down and turning the bow to the side to keep it aimed in front of her.

Once she had the shot, the arrow rang true and struck the creature's left thigh. At the moment of impact, a colorful explosion erupts at the tip, and bounds of vines and roots stretch out and entangle the creature's leg. Pinning the vines and roots deep into the ground. Lukia quickly knocks her next arrow and fires the same spell into the other leg, causing the same reaction of pinning it in place.

It struggles to move and reaches for the vines to rip them with its raw strength, but another bramble arrow strikes its shoulder, causing vines to protrude out of the wound; it wraps around its neck and face, immobilizing it. Lukia lines up another shot and charges forward, firing the next arrow for its heart, which lights up in a blue light. On contact, the Stalker vanishes in a plum of the white mist, another illusion.

"Shit!" Readjusting her footing, she trips over herself and barely prevents her entire torso from being ripped apart as the Stalker swipes with its massive claw. One of which slashes her arm deeply, blood pouring down her arm. Once her side hits the ground, she flips from the momentum, draws the arrow up, and slings the shot through the jaw and out its head.

Another plum of white mist evaporates from the illusion. Leaving herself open, the Stalker reveals itself and aims to consume her with one massive bite...

"There you are... No hiding behind your illusions now!" With a single motion, Lukia draws her longsword from her side with her left hand, quickly twirling it with the momentum, and shoves the blade in the jaws, causing the sword to prevent the jaws from closing. The sharp teeth still cut into her thigh and abdomen, but she kicks herself away from its jaws and knocks two arrows on her bow. Sweat pours down her head as she expands most of her magic capabilities, unleashing her final bramble shots into the creatures' jaws.

Bursting out in a gore of dark green and blue blood, with hints of yellow, the vines rip their way through the Stalker, pinning it in place as its entrails are pulled from the inside out by the vines and roots to reach the dirt below. Knowing that it could very well be an illusion, Lukia sees the signal from Caleb as he emits a high-pitched sound with sparks around his fingers. She runs out of the way and dives.

"Tempest Burst!" Unleashing the whirlwind of magic forward, the mist of the Stalker parts away, clearing the area free. Leaving only the real Stalker still pinned but slowly breaking free. Seeing that there is no illusion in front of her, she fires several arrows into the creature's joints.

"Cal! Do it!"

Sparks of lightning erupt from his hand, channeling the magic within his blood to the center of his palm. Except, with an added twist, wraps the power around his fingers, resembling the strands that Rys had used. "Let's give this a shot! Voltic Web!" Extending his fingers forward, the wave of bright blue strands shoot out and quickly wrap around the Stalker. Bolts of lightning pulse through the strands which quickly rip apart the Stalker. It roars its bony face around, struggling to break free until the strands remove its left arm altogether.

Caleb's hand begins to bleed from the blowback of magic, causing the veins to expand within his arm. Losing control of the invented magic, he falls to his knees, holding his wounded arm, blood running down and leaving the creature significantly wounded but still alive. Meaning Lukia would have to be the one to finish it off.

She grabs her last arrow from her quiver and speaks in words unknown, reciting an old incantation. Glyphs and sigils wrap around her arrow. Using the nature around her, she pours their power into her bow and arrow.

"Begone vile creature born from witchcraft!" The Stalker's entire head vanished in a bright golden light, and the arrow fired became a massive beam of energy that completely eviscerated whatever it touched. The massive creature's body grows limp, its life cut short by the final strike. Forever displayed in this spot, the green slimy essence within its body starts to pour out of its open stomach. Melting into a massive ooze leaves a stench far worse than any city sewage.

"Is it done?" Caleb groans as he speaks. He holds his arm weakly and slowly approaches her. Lukia chuckles and turns her back to meet him as well. Stringing her bow behind her, she lets out a loud sigh.

"Yeah, the creature is-" A sudden chill quivers her body as the presence of the Stalker moves. Her eyes widened the moment she turned to see that the dark green ooze that had escaped its body had begun reaching for her in the moment of reprieve.

"Lucy!" Caleb grabs her arm and pulls with all his might, pushing into action and taking her out of harm's way. Lukia falls to the ground and watches as the green ooze attaches itself to Caleb's left arm, shoulder, and most of his chest. A dark cloud of smoke emits from the location, and the ooze attaches itself alongside a painful cry from Caleb. Lukia attempts to aid him, but Caleb stops her. "Don't come closer!"

Unsure what to do, Lukia panics in the moment, trying to find some weapon as she searches with her eyes. A solid blue spark of light eases past her face. Turning toward the sudden light, Caleb outputs a violent stream of lightning throughout his body. Using the veins in his entire body as pathways, he uses the blood within them to become one massive conductor.

The green ooze attached to him begins to bubble instantly from the massive wave of lightning emitting from Caleb. The visage of his bright white hair lit up even further by the sheer amount of magic flowing out of his body was both a sight of beauty and horror. Reflected in her eyes, Lukia watches as Caleb's entire body produces the same magic that came out of his hands and now acts as a repelling shield. Without a second longer, the green ooze ruptures from the power and is blasted to nothing, burning away from the lightning.

After the whole ordeal, the dark smoke radiates from Caleb's body further. Standing with his body darkened by the extensive use of his magic throughout his body, he crumbles to the ground in pain.

"Caleb!" Lukia puts her hands on him but quickly retracts them at the moment as his clothes, armor, and body are beyond burning hot. If she didn't do something now to aid him, he could die. She quickly clenched her teeth and forced any amount of energy possible to produce healing through her hands. The bright green glow flickered from her fingertips.

Then, without a second thought, she plunged her hands directly on his chest, the heavy sensation of burning seared into her flesh. Painful wails escaped her breaths as she let the last remaining vitality she could give into healing Caleb. Sounds of bushes rustling very closely, and footsteps approaching draw her attention.

She sees the rest of her companions rushing towards them out of her vision. Before she could speak, her consciousness faded from pushing her limit and the burning pain in her hands. The last couple of words she could recall before slipping in and out of consciousness were a jumbled mess. She watched as her friends quickly tended to Caleb while Gale held her head, trying to speak to her. She saw his worried face while he barked orders to the others until she couldn't see his face as the dark abyss took her...