Damian paid little mind to the strange sleeper who had emerged from the woods in a bolt of lightning, for he already knew the nature of this man and for him to expose himself like this in an unknown place, he had taught him better than that. The tremors never stopped even after Jasper collapsed into the mud which meant that he was running from something truly terrifying, with only the prophet and a few odd sleepers still keeping their eyes on the woods ahead.
Seconds past with little change in the world, Damian held his breath waiting for the slightest change in environment in order to start his defence, he had never been able to use his bow in the past so he was curious of what it was capable of. Its power radiated off its blackened wood as he remembered the devastation its previous master brought with it,he only hoped that he would live long enough to discover its secrets.
Soon a shadow appeared as the sounds of churning mud and snapping bark echoed out, not wasting a moment Damian fired his first shot into the dark hoping to strike his foe down before it got too close, but as the shadow grew larger and larger he realised that there was little hope in their future. A titanic mass of vines and roots ripped their way through the forest as if it had come alive, its roots coiled around the twisted bark of the trees, snapping them apart as it dragged itself towards the scent of human souls, how long had it been since it could last feast on such a meal?
The sleepers watched as the treeline came alive as dozens of roots as thick as the trees themselves came alive, reaching forward in hopes of grabbing them to feed into its maw.
Most of the sleepers managed to back away in time but a few unlucky souls were still frozen with fear as the crushing roots entailed themselves around their forms crushing them in its grip as it dragged them deeper into the darkness, their screams echoed out for only a moment, replaced by the beautiful melody of silence. The melody was quickly broken by an onslaught unlike anything any of these powerless fools had ever seen, countless Aspects abilities all activated at once as arcs of fire and first tried to break into the thick roots, songs and clashing steel could be heard as those near the front tried to fight against the roots, their weapons unable to even scratch the creature no matter how hard they tried.
THe prophet was front and center with his great sword in hand, the blade once a lustrous steel now brimming with divine fire as he charged at the nightmare spawn ahead of him, but Damian wasn't focused on all of that, how could he be too much was happening to be able to properly tell what was going on but he could see one thing very clearly, as he saw a lone arrow jutting from one of the roots ahead.
Knowing what he had to do he kept firing his bow, shot after shot with each one breaking through the bark. The creature seemed to pay these injuries little mind at first but seemed to be growing more agitated by the moment as the continuous bombardment of attacks seemed more like an irritant than a threat, it responded in kind as for each second that passed another soul was dragged deeper into the dark.
For each poor soul that was dragged away Damian felt a tinge of shame, shame that he was unable to help them no matter how hard he tried to fend of the roots of the vile creature, not too far away Jest was knocked away by one of the roots of creature, dazed on the ground he figured that this was his end, he looked up as the root threatened to grab him and seal his fate,
'Something Something…Death by choking wood'
Chuckling in his last moments he watched his fate slowly approach from above as a figure appeared above him once again, the man was tall and built like a PTV back in NQSC he would be hard to mistake for a general of the regime before its collapse at the dawn of the terrible nightmare, his sharp features and impressive build just screamed authority to those unfortunate souls born into a life of indentured servitude yet here he was, ready to die for Jest Sake,
'What an idiot'
The thought washed over Jest's mind as he watched the root wrap itself around the man, threatening to crush him under its incredible might however it instead let go as suddenly the man simply vanished from its grip and small streaks of green liquid oozes out of tiny cuts in the roots surface, Jest couldn't comprehend what he had just seen as he suddenly found himself being dragged further back by some strange force and thrown against the muddy bank of the river as he watched the form of the man shimmer back into reality as if he was always there.
Damian's mind was racing as he caught his breath, he couldn't believe he had managed to pull it off! When he saw the young man about to be dragged away in front of him his body simply moved before his mind could even comprehend what had happened, he had managed to drag the man back in time whilst nearly being crushed in the process, if he hadn't activated his ability in time he surely would have died..no even then if the creature had just decided to squeeze tighter instead he would have burst open like a tube of synthpaste.
The rush of adrenaline made him feel alive, this is what he had missed about the battlefield, even though he was never on the frontlines the thrill of strategically taking out opponents had its own perverse thrill, as he walked forward he quickly realised something was strange, why were his emotions heighted as if he was bound by the [Broken Chain]? He hadn't summoned the memory yet so why… looking back at the young man who simply smiled as he had an arm raised in Damian's direction,
'It must be the man's Aspect ability…what a terrifying power.'