Goji awoke to discover his head was resting in Tari's kneeling lap while fairy lights slowly twinkled in the cavernous room above him. The horse they rode in on calmly stood by a wall next to where they came in from. He felt like he was dreaming.
"I know who you are, now," Tari whispered as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear to look down at him. "You won the Tournament of Templars, Goji of Solaris."
"That feels so long ago. How…?" Goji was too tired to form a second complete sentence.
"I was there. You were amazing; so brave and daring." Tari got a second look at the bandages Goji was wearing. "Why are you still injured? Don't Templars get special healing?"
"Not me, apparently. Not completely sure why. My betrothed said it's one of my tests. This crazy lady who kidnapped me says I'm some prophesied 'unbound' or something, and the gods themselves can't heal me."
"You're engaged?" Tari's heart sank a little bit. Unfortunately, Goji was too dumb to notice. However, he did manage to notice that she didn't follow up with questions about his kidnapping.
He sat up and continued. "Yeah, Sumitsu. She's Shinjin's Avatar. We've been betrothed since we were ten years old. We were supposed to get married right after the tournament, but I got abducted and now I'm running for my life."
"From who?" Tari was suddenly very concerned.
"You saw me win the tournament?"
Tari nodded vigorously.
"Well, the templar I beat in the last fight wants revenge. She's sworn an oath to kill me!"
Tari gasped.
"And there's this elf who thinks by kidnapping me she's keeping me safe, but she's just as bad."
Tari nodded, this time with a furrowed brow to make her look more serious.
"So when I rescued you, I ended up running away from them, from those monks, and everybody. Now I don't know what to do. I want to go home." He tried to stand up, but the hard riding had aggravated one of the injuries in his upper thigh, and he collapsed back to the floor. "And I can't even stand right now."
"Let me see." Tari peeled back some of Goji's bandages to reveal a deep bruise turning purple and green. She reflexively winced at the sight of it. She looked up at the fairies, who were looking on in curiosity. She clapped both hands together as though about to start a prayer, then began to rub the palms of her hands together, creating warmth from the friction. When she pulled her hands apart, there was a yellowish glow akin to the fairy lights above them. She placed both hands on Goji's injured thigh.
Goji jumped a little at suddenly being touched, but the warmth of her hands was soothing, so he relaxed. For a brief moment, the glow intensified, then diminished. When Tari removed her hands, the bruise was wholly gone.
"How did you do that?"
Goji was just about to ask that, but those words came out of someone else's mouth.
Tari and Goji looked up suddenly to see a luminescent being standing a few feet in the air before them. She was basked in a pale blue light and shone with the aura of a celestial Avatar. "I ask again. How did you do that? How were you able to heal him?"
Goji stood up, now that he was able to. "Leave her be. She's had a rough day."
"Silence!" the Avatar commanded. "You will not speak."
Tari backed away, further cowering from the Avatar. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she kept muttering.
"Leave her alone." Goji stood between the Avatar and Tari.
"Silence!" the Avatar commanded again, this time casting a spell. A pale blue light shot forth from her finger to form a band around Goji's head that covered his mouth.
"No," Goji said, the binding spell dissipated with the sound of his voice. "You're scaring her. Back off."
The Avatar, Tari, and all the fairies stared at Goji. Who was this guy that a divine spell had no effect on? The Avatar, unfamiliar with this kind of situation, took a step back from Goji and reduced the glow around herself.
"Who are you?" Goji asked.
"I am the Avatar of Truth. I serve Megumi, the Goddess of Love. My name is Minori."
Upon uttering her name, the Tree groaned menacingly. The fairies immediately dispersed. The horse whinnied in panic and ran. Tari glanced around nervously, thinking the horse had the right idea. Minori also looked around, breaking eye contact with Goji.
However, Goji wrongly assumed Minori was the one behind it. "Is your name supposed to scare me?"
"It scares something. We're not alone." Minori intensified her aura in preparation for something coming.
Without warning, a vile tentacle, oozing smoke and sludge, thrust from the wooden floor below Minori's hovering form and gripped her by her ankles. Her aura fluctuated and diminished as it touched her, as though draining her of her powers.
Goji sprang into action and kicked the tentacle with his good leg for all he was worth. The whole tree writhed in agony at the strike. It let go of Minori, who then dropped to the ground severely weakened.
Immediately a celestial portal opened up, and through it stepped Okomikeruko, followed by Kyou and Satori, both with weapons drawn. "Bellflower!" He shouted and ran to help Minori to her feet. "Hurry, we're not safe here, and he rushed her through the portal. Kyou quickly ushered Tari through the portal next, who obeyed without asking any questions.
Satori and Goji stood side by side to take on the tentacle, which was rearing up to strike again. "Goji, go!" Kyou shouted. He gauged his opponent for a moment to make sure he wouldn't be attacked from behind, then ran for the portal. The moment he touched it, it vanished.
Satori slashed and cleaved the tentacle many times, but the creature kept regenerating itself. "What happened?" she called out when she saw the portal was gone.
"I'm so stupid!" Kyou berated herself, drawing her bow and loosing a green magical arrow into the tentacle. "Goji's immune to celestial powers. That's why we needed to transport him by ship in the first place." Two more arrows. "Both of you, follow me!" Kyou ran out of the cavernous hollow, firing arrows behind her to keep the tentacle at bay.
Satori forced Goji to go ahead of her since she was armed, but he wasn't going to argue. Satori swung her glaive in broad slashing strokes with blinding speed to keep the tenticle at bay.
The trio escaped the chamber and ran through the manifold twisting corridors and tunnels that ran through the Tree. Kyou reached out with a mental prayer to request help from her patron Avatar. Her eyes were immediately blessed, and she could see a series of green flames guiding her onward. Imbued with a sense of confidence, Kyou led on faster. Goji limped along as best he could, but kept having to be prodded along by Satori.
The black tentacle pursuing them maintained a threatening presence behind them, but seemed reluctant to strike. When they came to a major intersection of paths, each path was blocked by a wall of sludge. Massive tentacles protruded from each wall.
Kyou could no longer see the green flames that guided her path.
Tari emerged from the portal and embraced her loving family. They were all in a mad rush to try to comfort and console her. Her blacksmith brother stroked her hair and walked over to where Okomikeruko was helping Minori to stand. "What happened in there?"
Okomikeruko ignored the boy's question; his entire focus was on Minori's wellbeing. Minori replied, "We were attacked. Something grabbed me and started to drain me of my power."
"Was it Kagunokon?" He asked.
"What?" Okomikeruko was suddenly very attentive to the blacksmith's words.
"It's what some of us have started calling it. The monster that killed our god."
"You named the evil in there?" Minori was astonished.
"Stories were told. It needed a name." The blacksmith shrugged.
"Well, now we know it's real. Ten years I've been coming here, and it picks now to attack." Minori glances up toward the tree.
Suddenly, Okomikeruko was launched backwards as if struck with a mighty blow. "Oh no."
Kyou fired volley after volley of magically regenerating arrows at the masses of black ooze that blocked all exits, but the more she fired, the less it seemed to do any good. Satori slashed at whatever tendrils attempted to reach out for them, but there seemed to be no end to them.
Goji couldn't take it anymore. Trapped with no way out, he yelled in frustration and charged at one of the walls. Neither Kyou nor Satori could anticipate such a stupid move, so all they could do was hold their ground and watch in horror as Goji leapt into the air and punched the wall of sludge.
As expected, his arm sank into the sludge up to his elbow and held him there, hanging. He flailed about, kicking and punching where he could, but it didn't do him any good, as a mass of tenticles splayed out all around him and enveloped him completely.
"Goji!" Kyou cried out, loosing arrows into the wall of slime as rapidly as she was physically able. Satori charged forward, slashing and carving through the slime to try to get to Goji, but it was fruitless. They both attempted to call upon their divine magic, but every attempt was quickly disrupted, as though the very air itself refused to allow the magic circles to form.
Kyou dropped to her knees and openly but silently wept. The sudden totality of her failure hit her. The chosen one was dead. She wasn't strong enough to protect him. Was there something else she could have done? Kyou's pitiful state deeply shook Satori's composure. She had also failed. She had sworn an oath to protect Goji, and now her soul is at risk of damnation for her failure.
Satori bowed her head and closed her eyes in shame. She let her glaive drop to the floor in a clatter. She whispered a little prayer: "Help me."
That very moment, a bright white light ripped through one of the walls of sludge. Kyou and Satori turned to see the Avatars of both their deities, Shiratakemaru of Yukito and Okomikeruko of Chie, emerge victoriously through the wall of sludge and enter the corridor. The White Tiger roared mightily and lunged into the wall where Goji had disappeared and ripped the boy's body back out. He handed the unconscious boy to Satori. "Take him and run."
"Follow me," Okomikruko uttered in a low and urgent tone. He quickly transformed back into Mineshi, the winged owl-faced cat, and flew through the tunnels they had just cleared. Satori grabbed her glaive and held Goji over her shoulder while she and Kyou escaped. Upon seeing them leave, Shiratakemaru roared once more and charged into the black sludge.
Mineshi led Kyou and Satori through the tunnels as fast as they could follow. The walls were devoid of the meanasing sludge that had trapped them moments before. Time seemed to move more slowly due to the heightened sense of danger they still felt, but it was only a matter of seconds until they exited the tree across the same root bridge they came in from. Minori was still there with Tari and her family.
Satori laid Goji upon the ground, face up, and helped lift his upper body at an incline. Upon seeing the unconscious Goji, Tari rushed over to him.
"Easy, child," Satori admonished while putting up a hand to keep her back.
"Give him some space," Kyou advised, sidestepping into Tari's path.
"No," Minori said with a gentle sternness, which caught everyone's attention. "Let her attend him."
Satori and Kyou relented and let Tari run up to Goji and kneel beside him. Goji's breathing was shallow and weak. Tari clapped and rubbed the palms of her hands together, and a yellowish white glow began to manifest between them. Once the intensity of the glow reached that of a candle flame, Tari placed both her hands on Goji's chest. The light spread outward from her hands and wrapped around Goji's torso. Black sludge emanated from Goji, and it fought back against Tari's magic. She was about to leap away when Minori suddenly appeared behind her. The gentle Avatar held Tari in place supportively. "You're winning, don't lose faith now," the Avatar of Truth whispered in her ear.
Tari's expression showed greater focus and determination than ever before, and every member of her family saw it. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. The glow of her magic lost the yellowish tint and became pure white.
Goji's body convulsed as wave after wave of the evil, wriggling sludge was expelled from his body.
Satori and Kyou immediately sprang to action, slashing and shooting the slug-like masses. Still, their attacks had little effect, as the putrid matter simply seeped into the ground and escaped.
Goji gasped long enough to fill his lungs and coughed out the entire breath. He looked around him and saw himself surrounded. He attempted to scramble away from everyone. But found Satori firmly gripped his collar. "Please do not force us to tie you up," she hissed under her breath. "We're still in a combat zone, so stay close to us if you want to live." He nodded to indicate his submission.
But the very moment Goji regained consciousness, Tari lost hers. Minori held the girl and carried her over to her family. Tari's blacksmith brother took his sister in his arms and carried her.
"Please come with us." The father asked. "We have much to discuss."
As everyone was heading off to Tari's family farm, not one of them noticed the head with spider legs lurking in the bushes watching them, nor did they see it scurry into the ravine where so many of its compatriots' bodies were lying in wait.