Chapter 5

"Daki… look out!"

Daki let his gaze fall to where Taeo had become airborne. The white wolf leapt into the air as well, its jaws snapping viciously at the hare and the two were locked into a fierce battle. He looked to where the black creature had taken a seat and… it wasn't there! Daki glanced around the hall, toward the exit, to the stairs in the back, his gaze went to the warm hearth with its ever crackling fire. Nothing. The wolf had seemingly vanished.

"Look up, you fool!" Taeo shouted as he used the flat of his dagger to fend off the white's attack. 

'Up?' Daki slowly turned his head toward the ceiling. 'Oh shi-' he thought as the wolf came crashing down! He leapt out of the way just in time as its paws caused the marble floor to crack under pressure. 

The wolf stood facing him, breathing heavily, white teeth bared. Daki covered his nose as the stench of rotting flesh tried to enter his nostrils. He shook his head at the overwhelming smell. It was because of creatures like these, that the city stunk. He winced as a thick, viscous liquid oozed out of  the wolf's maw and onto the floor. It sizzled upon contact with the smooth surface. Though the marble appeared to be unaffected, Daki knew what that sizzle meant. 

"Awesome," he said. "This test just became a thousand times harder."

He had no real weapons. As a warlock, he could use magic, but because Daki had only focused on the ability to create and grow things… the ability to nurture his surroundings, the best he would be able to do, was defend. But how well could plants stand up to poison? The black lunged towards him! Daki hopped back and with the sweeping gesture of his arm, there was a rumble. 

A thick root burst through the floor between them, covered in a vibrant, green moss and a vine full of leaves. Just in time as the wolf slammed head first, into the living wood. It wriggled around like a serpent, wrapping the daemon up in a tight embrace.

"Heh… " Daki said. "Not so tough now… are you?" He stepped to the side as Taeo slammed into the floor beside him. "You alright?"

Taeo grunted as he strained to push himself up, back to his feet. He wiped a little blood off his face with a fist and without looking away from his opponent, he said, "yeah. Let's just get this over with."

Daki nodded. He didn't care for this method of initiation any more than Taeo did. He raised his fist and clenched. The massive root squeezed around the black who wriggled and squirmed, whimpered against the force put upon its chest. It groaned, opened its maw wide and bit down hard. The wolf's acidic saliva oozed out and into the root.

Daki winced.

Taeo looked up at him. "What's the matter?" he asked.

Daki blinked and shook his head. 

Upon hearing the wolf's saliva hit the floor with a violent hiss, he was afraid that this might happen. In the spot where those dagger-like teeth connected, the moss shriveled and fell away, while the vine receded, dropping all of its leaves in the process and the root began to turn black. He could feel it happening as the disease began to spread down the root. He was on fire, with every inch of his body burning. It was almost too much for him to bear. He had to release the wolf or… with a wave of his hand, the root was gone and the wolf was once again free to antagonize them.

He fell to his knees, every breath like the acid that affected his root. Daki coughed.

"Hey Matthias!" Taeo shouted. "We won't be any good to you if we're dead!"

"You won't be any good to me, if you can't defeat a couple of low level daemons either."

Daki looked up and glanced around the room, but he didn't see Matthias anywhere. The man's voice sounded distant, like it was brought to them by a nonexistent breeze. But it also was all around them, like they were in a giant cavern where their voices could reverberate off the walls, echoing back to them.

"Low level?" Taeo asked. "I've fought many low level daemons in the city. These wolves are not it."

"It's… alright," Daki said. His throat burned fiercely and there was an ich he couldn't rid himself of. "We have to… kill…"

"Don't be ridiculous," Taeo said. "You can't even stand…" he paused. "Wait… what is the deal? That wolf never hit you. You should be fine."

"Perhaps," Daki said as he cleared his throat. "You don't quite know as much about magic as you think you do."

Taeo scoffed. "I know more than you."

If that were true, then Taeo would understand that those roots were an extension of Daki's soul. If anything happened to them, he would be affected as well. "You don't," Daki pushed himself to his feet. "You don't use magic yourself, you rely on the magical talents of the weapons you carry."

The hare looked away. 

"Am I wrong?"

"No," Taeo said. 

The white wolf barked and growled. She leapt forward, ready to chomp down on Taeo's much smaller form. With all the strength in his legs and little boost with a small root hidden beneath them, he launched himself toward the female. He spun around in midair and made contact with her head, using the heel of his foot. She crashed down beside her partner.

"These are low level daemons!" Matthias shouted from the ether. "You won't find any after the… fifteenth floor, who are weaker than these guys."

Daki somersaulted backwards. With his arms stretched out to either side, he came to an almost perfect landing. One foot almost slipped out from under him and Daki was forced to flail around like a fish out of water, in order to regain his balance.

"None weaker, huh?" Daki asked the air.

"That's right," Matthias said. "If you can't even beat these guys, how do you possibly think you stand a chance at reaching the bottom of that chasm?"

He had a point, but it wasn't as if Daki had asked to be given permission to go down there. No… he was only at the guild because his mentor, Mother Margie had asked him to come and deliver a letter. A howl drew his eyes to where Taeo stood in a defensive posture, holding two daggers at the ready. That hare was prepared to face the black, head on if he had to. 

"ACK!" Taeo shouted as the wolf bounded towards him. He jumped over the creature, with daggers at the ready, prepared to slice.

The wolf growled and with one flick of its tail, forced Taeo to the ground. Both daggers slid from his grasp and he became pinned by a heavy paw in the middle of his back. The beast leaned over with a drooling mouth.

"Taeo, hang on!" Daki yelled. He clenched his teeth, thinking. Taeo had dropped both his weapons and now they were out of his grasp and Taeo was unable to use magic of his own to get him out of his predicament. 'What was it Mother Margie had said.'

'Strength is important Daki, but what is even more so, is your withs. Your growth magic can be used for a lot more than just beautifying a room.' 

Her voice rang in his head, clear as day. Daki closed his eyes. She was right. Even though it hadn't quite worked in his favor, he 'had' used those roots to detain one of the wolves. He might have even been able to squeeze the life out of it if it hadn't bitten the root. Daki rubbed his throat. His head was still foggy from that incident and his throat still had an annoying tingle.

He looked to his friend, who was attempting to pull himself out from under the wolf's heavy paw. "Weapons…" he said. The one thing Taeo needed the most, was a weapon he could easily reach and hang on to. He grinned. "That's it!"

Daki clenched his fist and motioned for another root to appear. If he could give life to these plants, he also had the power to take it away. He released his fist and slashed the air with the same hand. All the life in the root, fell away. But unlike when the previous one had been bitten, this one didn't turn black. Instead, the visible change was less noticeable and he felt no ill effects as a result. The bark dried out and the root's moss became a darker shade of what it was, before falling off. 

A groan from the other side of the room drew his attention. It was the white wolf, but she was still down. He looked up. Seated at a few of those tables by the hearth and standing on the stairs leading to the second floor, were many of the guild members he had seen earlier, leave the meeting room. Including that girl and the man she had been talking to. 

"I guess we have a bit of a show," he said as he brought two more roots out of the ground. This time, they had sharp, pointed edges. Together, they worked on the dead root, carving its shape.

"Hurry… up!" Taeo shouted. "I really don't like the idea of being eaten!"

Daki rolled his eyes. Of course he didn't. 

Both living roots receded, leaving, in the air, two finished spears. One was for Taeo and… he didn't have a physical weapon himself, so it made sense. "Taeo, here!" he shouted as he reached out and took hold of the spears. In one, fluid motion, he tossed one to the hare and took the other one up in both hands.

The first spear landed beside Taeo. "Thanks," he said as he grabbed the haft. 

"You're welcome," Daki said as he leapt toward the black. 

It jumped away, unwilling to be skewered. He barked, growled and lunged toward Daki. The beast was fast and dodged as Daki swung. It landed on the floor and almost immediately was in the air again. 

"No, not him!" Taeo said, exasperated. He was standing now, at the ready. "I'm the one you want Blacky!"

"Blacky?" Daki asked. He almost couldn't hide the laughter in his voice. Taeo had the personality of someone he would thoroughly enjoy being around.

"Yeah," he said. "His fur is black isn't it? Besides, I don't think names like Spike or Spot or Fenrir would fit him very well."

"Well actually," Daki said. "That last one might."

"Yeah yeah. Whatever you say." Taeo winked at him from across the room, before he bounded toward the wolf. 

Against Taeo's speed, the wolf stood no chance as it attempted to dodge. It was almost like Taeo could see every move the wolf was going to make, even before it knew it was going to make it. One dodge meant that the hare would either be above it, below it or to the side, right where it was planning to be.

"Daki," Taeo said. There was a little anger and malice in his voice this time. For good reason, Matthias had essentially tricked them both into fighting the daemonic wolves which had clearly come straight from the Scar. "Let's finish this!"

Daki nodded. He fully agreed with that sentiment. 

The black dodged Taeo's attack once more, but this time Daki stood in its way. He stabbed out with his spear, managing to get one of the wolf's legs. It struggled to get away, to detach itself from the sharp weapon, but to no avail. Taeo came down from above, holding the spear so that the point was aimed toward the creature's neck. It pierced through as easily as a knife could slice through butter. 

Taeo pried the spear from the now dead wolf's body and landed gracefully on the floor behind it. He looked up. "Well… it's uh… dead…" he said.

Daki pushed his foot into the creature's leg and pulled. His spear came out almost as easily as Taeo's had. He held himself from grinning. "Thanks captain," he said. "For stating the obvious."

Taeo furrowed his brow. He glanced at the spear in his hand and then looked up at Daki, his furrowed brow was gone. "This is remarkable craftsmanship," he said. "Mind if I keep this?"

Daki shrugged. "Be my guest."

"Awesome!"

A loud, raucous roar of laughter, cheering and clapping enveloped the entirety of the hall. Everyone who had been watching, were there, now cheering. In the crowd, Daki could even see a few new individuals who had come in after the beast went down.

"Well done, well done!" 

In that moment, Daki could feel a surge of negative emotions toward the guild master. Disgust for what Matthias had put them both through and tricking them into fighting the two beasts, Anxiety and fear for what he might have planned for the future and anger. "Well done?" he asked. "We just killed two creatures who were just unfortunate enough to have met you." 

Matthias smiled. "Do you honestly think they would have left you alone, had you gone into the Scar?"

From what Daki understood about it, all the creatures down there were hostile to some extent. There probably wouldn't have been an escape. "No," he said. "I do not think that. But the fact of the matter is that at least down there, they would have had a choice."

"They had a choice here too."

"Yeah," Taeo said. "To either attack and be killed, or just be killed." 

"Now now," Matthias said. "You both passed the test. That means you have earned your right to go into the Scar."

Taeo's ears drooped and he lowered his spear. "Earned our right?" he said. "Don't you mean… earned our punishment. You'll force us to go down there, even if we don't want to."

Matthias nodded. "All guild members must contribute in some way to its exploration."

"I… I don't want to go…"

Matthias shrugged. "That's too bad I suppose. Daki needs someone with experience to take him."

Experience? As far as he knew, Taeo had never actually gone down there. 

"What experience?" Taeo asked. "I've never been down there before."

"You've fought most of the low level daemons who had been able to find their way to the surface and you've gone to many of the debriefings in the past. Taeo, you know the Scar better than most, even though you've never been down there."

Taeo looked away.

"Am I wrong?" Matthias asked.

"No," Taeo said. His eyes full of anger and hate, met Matthias'. "I have my reasons for not wanting to go down there..

Matthias waved a hand. "I'm sure that you do. But if Daki is to find his own family… well… he can't exactly go alone, can he?"

"One condition then," Taeo said.

"Hmmm?"

Before Daki could do anything, Taeo had already crossed the length of the room, spear in hand. Not even Matthias, who Daki guessed was the best and most skilled magic user in the Guild, was not fast enough to stop the spear which was now pointed at his neck.

"I have a family," he said.

"I know."

"Protect them. Keep them here if you have to, just don't let anything happen to them."

"And… if I don't follow that advice?"

"I'll… 'kill' you!"