(previous chapter - Gauge and Var, finds the Sunflower village in a sorry state. Both of them meet Yggdrasil - the tree of life. Gauge declines a contract on the tyrant and decides to take him on his own will. He is surrounded by minions of the tyrant as he prepares to slaughter them.)
Gauge stands at the centre of Sunflower village,Var collects all the near lifeless plants and creates a barrier,
"Blood origami : Veil of the red moon."
Gauge retrieves his blade,'Feryx' and infuses it with his magma. All the tree minions launched razor-sharp vines toward Gauge. He keeps his composure and jumps over all of them as they all clash with each other. He lands on the collision and with out delay, aims at two of the minions, taking a deep breath to maintain focus,
"hhhuuuu.....White Embers : Spiral Tempest!"
as he propels forward with a spiral motion, Feryx pulsating with white magma, In an instant Gauge was standing atop their lifeless trunks. Now only 2 remain, one of them tries to run back into the forest trying lose him ————— He feels an impact on his body, looks down and notices Feryx has pierced through him from behind.
The dagger's heat started melting him - he couldn't move an inch. He turns around and looks at Gauge walking towards him,
"What was that again..." he asks the tree in a cold tone,
"ahhh yess.... you guys have forgotten the taste of fear"
He closes in on the dying tree as he was desperately trying to pull himself out of there. Gauge nears him, Grabs the dagger,
"LET.....ME...FAMILIARIZE...YOU...!!!!!!" he yells as he pulls the dagger upward splitting open the tree....*thud* the large piece of wood falls to ground.
He looks at the last tree, it's roots trembling even the ones deep in the ground.
"Now are you scared enough to talk or should we give you another lesson."
The tree starts begging for life, sweating from it's barks,
"Please spare me, I ll tell you every thing you wanna know..."
Var releases his bloodveil, walks up to Gauge and uses his binding ropes technique to tie the captive down. He starts interrogating,
"Where is your boss? how do we find him?
The tree responds nervously, still fearing that Gauge might kill him,
"We do not know where he is, He communicates with all those who submitted to him through a hive mind, but it is only one way we cannot talk back, only his commands reach us. So if you are planning to use me to get to him, forget it."
Var thinks for a while, and takes a step forward intimidating the prisoner,
"So if we can't get to him we have to bring him to us, How do we bait him?"
The tree looks to the ground suspecting his answer would disappoint them,
"The only thing he is obsessed with, is that damn gate, So unless you are carrying a gate in your bag, forget it."
Var frustrated summons whips of blood sharp as knives to kill him. Gauge holds his hand and stops him, searches for something in his own satchel he got for free from the Feryx vendor as complimentary for being rude,
"Will something like this suffice(Shows him a gate ore filled with gate energy) It was a leftover from the last time I fought a being like your master."
Both Var and the tree drop their jaws on sight,
"That... would very well be good, I will help you set the trap, please release me from his bindings."
Only then Var noticed he was only a kid not older than Gauge as he looks at the later. Gauge too notices but focuses on what's important,
"Well the let's not risk anymore of these villagers' lives, let return to where we landed, It is barren enough to bait the tyrant.
all three get to the site, as the tree asks "What's our plan...?"
Var explains the plan and all three start setting up the trap.
(few hours later)
both Var and Gauge are tied down by vines but brittles ones so they could break out easily. The Tree holds his hand up against the gate through which Var and Gauge got here,the ore reacts to the gate and radiates brighter.
A moment of absolute silence─────────then the ground shakes, the trees lose their balance, The prisoner tree could sense the Tyrant near. A second later a large root, a lot more bigger than even overgrown tree, bursts out of the ground.
It waits a moments feels for the energy and approaches it slowly. Gauge waits for it to get closer───── it stops──────── and retracts with hostility and charges at the young tree.
In a flash, Gauge jumps in front of him and grabs the enormous root glowing with gate energy. As the root tries to shake him off, he unsheathes feryx and impales it. he shouts to the tree,
"Throw me the ore" the young tree threw it reluctantly, fearful for the consequences if the Tyrant gets it, Gauge grabs it with his other hand.
The root writhing of pain retracts through the ground. Gauge is also pulled in through the soil mud and water as he struggles to hold on.
FInally it emerges somewhere in the heart of Tyrant's domain. A large vast area, covered entirely by the roots of the Banyan and his minions all infused with gate energy. Entirely covered by the leaves of the great banyan, It was devoid of starlight.
A large river running beside into which several roots passed into.
Meanwhile back in the village; both Var and the young tree run through the forest. As Var was tracking the orb's energy, they run into a herd of minions yet again. Var was annoyed, they need to reach Gauge faster.
"AGHH... I don't have time for this(impales himself and withdraws blood)Origami : Crimson Chakra"
A blood wheel blade conjures up.
(back at the heart)
Gauge strains himself and stands on his feet, before him a large Banyan tree old but still pulsating with power, he groans,
"Warrior of molten fists, surrender the gate ore and we shall together conquer this world."
he is taller than the fortress of azoria Gauge thinks while he tightens his grip over the ore and prepares to fight.The tree sighs,
"You mortal, do you really think you can take on me, Thornbane the immortal?"
as 100s of sharp vines arrow towards gauge.....
Next chapter -Scent of the White Flames