Shoutout Tannermals and John_A_Mandrake for the power stones!!
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As they ran, large boulders constantly fell near them forcing them to dodge wildly. Rose smashed apart a large rock before it hit the Bone cousins as I focused on keeping Thorn safe. She kept trying to get out of my arms saying that she felt better but until we were off the mountain I wasn't taking any chances.
I duck as a large chunk of rock with a rat creature face flies over me and lands next to Fone Bone. He looks at it then gets an idea "Hey Gran'ma Ben, Carter! We need to go this way!" He shouts pointing to something a little bit above us as Rose swears that he's finally lost his mind.
I turn around to keep running but Kingdok suddenly appears "Up GO UP!" I yell at Rose as she throws a boulder staggering Kingdok as I scramble back up the mountain. Kingdok doesn't let up however as he claws his way up, snapping at us with his gaping maw. We reach a flat part as Fone Bone explains "There is a way to get down the mountain that will shelter us from all the falling rocks AND Kingdok." He says as Smiley nods already knowing what he's talking about. "Find it then, quickly!" I snap as I wiggle one of my arms out and blast Kingdok in the face with fire before running after them.
"This is it, the tunnel we used to get away from Rock Jaw!" Smiley shouts as he dives it. Phoney doesn't want to go in so Fone Bone shoves him in and jumps after him as Rose pulls me in before slamming a boulder into the entrance hole. RRRAA! Kingdok is not pleased.
Everyone catches their breath for a second as Kingdok starts tearing at the entrance, even with Rose's supernatural strength it won't hold forever. "Now where do we go?" I ask Fone Bone as he points down the tunnel, "We just follow this tunnel do-" THOOM! The mountain shakes around them as Smiley cuts him off. "Fone Bone, don't you remember this tunnel leads to the old Rat Creature Temple!." He says as Fone Bone eyes widen "Oh my gosh! That's right, and we all began to hallucinate!"
He tells this to Rose but she just nods "We'll be overwhelmed by nightmares. I know, I've been here before. A long long time ago." She says as the mountain shakes again. THOOM
"There's that noise again!" Phoney says as Fone Bone wonders what it is. Thorn tugs on my sleeve and so I set her down for a moment and she starts to walk down the tunnel, "Follow me, we'll be safe in the Old Temple." Cursing I follow after her as the Bone look at each other nervously. "When I let go, Kingdok is coming in. Are you ready?" She asks as Phoney raises his hand "Well actually I was having second thou-" "ONE YOU FEET BOYS!" Rose yells as she lets go of the boulder and grabs Phoney by his shirt and Fone Bone by the arm as she starts dragging them down the tunnel, CRASH Kingdok breaks through a second later.
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I tried to keep the noise of the Bone out of my head as we made our way down a set of stairs that had appeared a bit down the tunnel but it was getting hard not to. "How much farther Fone Bone?" Smiley asked "I don't remember the tunnel being so long the first time, maybe we took a wrong turn." He said nervously as I rolled my eyes. Make a wrong turn in a STRAIGHT tunnel, yeah righttt.
The tunnel started to shake as that nose came back again, THOOM "Avast ya swab! I told yer to hold that candle still!" Phoney yelled at Fone Bone, but he sounded weird? Turning around I saw Phoney but now he looked like a pirate for some reason? He didn't seem to notice though as he kept yelling at Fone Bone "An watch were ye point that lance!" The hell? Now Fone Bone looks like a sailor. I thought now more confused than ever as Fone Bone stared at Phoney and the lance he now held in shock.
Smiley came to check up on them and made fun of Phoney for only having one eye which seemed to snap him out of his pirate persona as he panicked. Smiley blamed it on the dreaming but Fone Bone tried to be the voice of reason saying that this was being caused by a mass hallucination from natural gas. Maybe Smiley isn't as dumb as he shows. I thought, shaking my head as I turned around just as Thorn collapsed. "THORN!"
Me and Rose were next to her in an instant, she was cold and deathly still. Rose called them over as I took my cloak off and wrapped Thorn in it. "What happened?!" Fone Bone said as Rose explained, "This is the work of the Lord of the Locust." She didn't get to say more as Thorn suddenly woke up. She confirmed that she HAD spoken to the locust, Rose told her how she had also done the same in the very cave they were in. "Did he find your dreaming eye?" Rose asked and Thorn shook her head, "Fone Bone and Carter stopped it, but just barely." She stood up as I felt a sudden weight on my back that had been missing for almost twenty years now.
"WOAH! Where did that come from?!" Smiley shouted being the first to see me, the others turned and looked surprised to see a pair of midnight black wings spread out behind me. "What are you?" Rose asked but Thorn just stared as she already knew, "Does it matter Rose. We both want the same thing." Mostly. I thought silently as Thorn started to walk, "We need to leave, I'm worried about the valley." She said as the Bones followed, Rose lingered a moment as she stared at my wings before joining them, as I quietly withdrew my wings back into my body.
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"Ow, it's so bright!" I heard them yell and it was terribly bright once I got out of the cave. As my eyes adjusted to all the light I saw nothing, no trees, no sky, nothing. "The valley is gone . . ." Rose said, sounding more lost than I had ever heard her. As far as the eye could see there were trees blown over like twigs, with ash slowly falling to the ground like snow. "We need to move, Kingdok won't stay inside the temple for long." I said trying to get them to move but they just stared out at the emptiness for several minutes.
"A ghost circle." Thorn finally said as Rose looked at her, "What?" "A ghost circle. Briar has unleashed them across the valley." Great now we had portals to the spirit world to worry about. "Is everyone dead?" Rose asked in a small voice.
Thorn shook her head, "No. Only some of the destruction is real, the rest is an illusion. The hard part is telling them apart." She said as she closed her eyes 'looking' at everything. "Can you see the difference?" I asked and she nodded, opening her eyes, "Yes, follow my footsteps EXACTLY, if you step into a real ghost circle you'll cease to exist!" The Bones gulped at that but didn't complain as Thorn led the way down towards what was left of the valley.
"How are you able to tell what's real and what isn't?" Fone Bone asked as he stepped over a log that Thorn told them not to touch under any circumstances, "When the Lord of the Locust tried to possess my body, you put that dragon necklace on me driving him back. I was able to rip a piece of him off and now I have a bit of his power." She said with a smile as if it was normal to rip a piece off an existential threat and use it against them. [It is more normal than you would think] The system chimed as I snorted in amusement.
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"Do we have to go over EVERY tree, there's got to be an easier way than this!" Phoney complained as Fone Bone told him no. I just stopped listening to him after the first mile since he didn't have anything useful to say, though I did listen as Fone Bone explained how HE saw the ghost circles. Phoney didn't buy it though as he thought that all this talk of 'dreaming' and 'evil' was just made up nonsense, despite him having a peg leg and a missing eye . . .
"Wait, watch closely!" Thorn called as she came up to a tree that was leaning on a boulder. "Step EXACTLY where I step, and don't touch that rock AT ALL!" She was dead serious as she slowly moved past it, as I walked by I could feel the air was a bit colder near the rock as my arm twitched from the temperature drop. We got by it just fine though as we continued to look for water that wasn't choked by ash.
Rose suddenly collapsed near a tree, "This is where I left Lucius." She choked out as Thorn comforted her, Rose panicked when the thought of Lucius being in a ghost circle crossed her mind but Thorn calmed her down. "He's safe in a ghost circle. if he'd been out in the path of the true blast he would have been dead!" She told her which calmed her down a little. Thorn then went over to the spot that Rose indicated trying to undo the illusion with the power she had stolen as I helped Rose sit.
"Well is he in there?" Phoney asked impatiently but Thorn shook her head, "I can't see anything, it's too cloudy and hot." She said as she kneeled looking pale as I walked over, "Get up we need to kee-"
The ash was gone, the sun was bright and trees were green and full of life, but only for a moment as Thorn gasped.
"GASP! What was that!" She said as I shook my hand, it felt hot, that never happened. "That felt weird." I said as Fone Bona walked over trying to help Thorn up only for them to disappear right in front of me. They were back a second later as Fone Bone exclaimed, "WOAH, did you see all of that!" Thorn nodded her hand, "We were in a ghost circle just now, hold my hand and back up slowly." They backed up as I felt the cold air around the area they were just a second ago.
"Did you see Lucius?" Rose asked hopefully but Thorn shook her head, "No it was full of trees, maybe we didn't see him." Rose shook her head "No where I left him had no trees, this is the wrong spot!" She said as Thorn and Fone Bone caught their breath before standing up ready to move on again. Thorn had seen clean water on the other side of the ridge though so we walked there and decided to stop for the night.
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"What time do ya think it is?" Smiley asked as he Fone Bone and I sat next to the fire. "I don't know Smiley. The ash is blocking out the sun" Fone said as I added fire to the flames with my quirk, "What time do you think is it in Boneville?" he asked with a wistful tone. "I don't know Smiley, why does it even matter." He said sleepily as his eyes slowly drifted to his cousin. "Just homesick i guess, I bet you aren't though." He grinned as Fone Bone shook his head, "What are you talking about?" He asked but Smiley just grinned at him and pointed to where Thorn and Rose were asleep, curled together.
"What's your home like Carter, where are you from?" Smiley asked, looking at me. I stared at the fire a moment before answering, "It's different, the people, the language. Everything is different from things here in the valley." I said as I added more flames before throwing in another piece of wood I had found. "Do the people there have powers like yours?" Fone Bone asked and I nodded "Yes, though the fire and Ice I use isn't my original power, yes the people have different abilities." They sat and thought about that for a moment until Fone Bone broke the silence, "What IS your power then?" I didn't answer that.
Soon Smiley started talking about Phoney and how he wasn't always right, I tuned them out though as I went over my plan. Keep Thorn safe, make more markers, stop the rats and the locusts, find a way back home. It should be simple but things never were, not when you wanted them to be. I fell asleep thinking about Cathleen and how she must have tried to fight Dave, I smiled thinking about how she would react when her quirk did nothing.
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When I woke up the next day? Night? I stared into the dark ash colored sky for a few minutes before getting up and stretching, after that I ate a little of my rations before refilling my water in the pool next to us. "Good morning Carter." Thorn said as she walked over, "Here is your cloak back, I washed it to get the ash out." She said as she handed it to me. I nodded still wanting silence before having to deal with Phoneys constant complaining.
"What way are we going now?" I asked Thorn as the Bone woke up and started getting dressed, "There are less ghost circles in the direction of Old Man's Cave so I think that is the best way, but Gran'ma Ben wants to go south, to the city of Atheia. There are more ghost circles in that direction though." She said as Rose shushed her, "Be quiet, I'm trying to listen." She hissed from behind a tree, walking over. I saw her with her head pressed to the ground as if listening for something.
I left the crazy woman to her own devices as the Bone came around the tree and started to talk with Thorn. She explained how Briar had botched her little ritual and that was why the ghost circles had appeared, since only a small fraction of the Locusts' power was able to escape. She also told them how the piece that was in her was the piece that was keeping the circle in the valley open, and that Rose had a friend in the old city who could possibly help remove it.
"SST, Thorn come here!" Rose hissed suddenly as Thorn went over, "There's something moving on the other side of the ridge, a large group!" She said standing up "Friend or foe?" Thorn asked but Rose shook her head, "No clue, are there any ghost circles on that ridge?" She pointed to the ridge next to them, Thorn said no so they climbed to the top to see what was moving about.
"Rat creatures! How did they find us?" Fone Bone asked but Thorn shook her head, "They don't know we're here." She said as she picked her way back down, "We need to leave before they DO find us." They picked their way down faster as Thorn and Rose decided that they would go to Atheia since the rats were blocking the way to Old Man's Cave. "We got company!" I hissed as rats suddenly started climbing up the sides of the ridge, they didn't attack though only stopping a few meters from us, though a few hissed at me clearly wary of the 'demon'.
"RUN THORN!" Rose shouted as she punched a rat in the face, the poor thing was brave or stupid enough to rush her so now we were running. FWOOM I blasted a few that got too close as I ran after the others, "Don't get separated!" I yelled but Rose, Smiley and Phney stepped on loose rocks and started to tumble down followed by rats who were too close. Swearing I followed Thorn and Fone Bone who were cornered on a ledge. "Why the hell would you let yourself be cornered?!" I hissed but they kept looking at the rats as Thorn drew her blade.
AARRR!
A few rats hissed as Thorn swung her sword and Fone Bone pelted them with rocks, but I spotted movement and got my fire ready, the Hooded One had arrived.
"Stop." Briar rasped as the rats parted, letting her walk through, "Stay back, or I'll kill you!" Thorn yelled as Briar let out a dry laugh, "Child, I am already dead. And you cannot do any real damage with that tiny blade of yours." She said, sneering as I ignited my fist, "What about some fire? Would that do anything?" I asked, stepping forward as Briar hissed. "YOU, I will deal with you later, but first let me show you a REAL blade." She snarled, taking her sickle and twirling it around she SMASHED it into the base of the ledge as it broke sending us tumbling down the rock.
I groaned as I tried to lift the boulder off of me, but it didn't want to budge as the Hooded One came down and started talking to Thorn, trying to convince her to join them. I felt a simmering rage at my inability to move the boulder so I froze it solid before smashing it to pieces, bit by bit. Standing up I engulfed my body in flames getting rid of the dirt that had accumulated as I faced the rats that were between me and Thorn. "You will not interfere." One hissed but I charged them regardless.
As I burned the last rat I charged the Hooded One who was trying to take Thorns hand, only for them to stagger as Fone Bone threw a rock nailing them right in the head. "I've just about had it with you!" He yelled brandishing a thick piece of wood as a makeshift club, "First you mess with my COUSIN, now you're messin with my GIRL, lets go right now!" he yelled as the Hooded One looked at him surprised.
"You carry a piece of the Locust as well." Briar said as Fone Bone paused, surprised, I didn't stop though as I threw a wave of fire hot enough to melt steel at her forcing them to jump back. "Why are you here?!" Briar seethed, furious at the rat creatures for their inability to kill him, she could not either as he was too strong even for her.
"Get up now!" I yelled at Thorn dragging her up as Smiley and Phoney arrived, on the back of a rat creature. "Hey guys! Remember Bartleby? He's all grown up now!" He yelled excitedly as I threw Thorn and Fone Bone up with them as I saw Rose running over with what must be hundreds of rats behind her. "GET TO RIDIN BOYS!" Rose shouted as Thorn started to guide them through the ghost circles. "Messin 'with you girl huh?" She teased Fone Bone as he blushed, FWOOM! "More running, less flirting!" I yelled as we ran, in the back I could see the Hooded One slowly pick themselves back up as they watched us flee.
As we shot over the top of a hill Thorn suddenly screeched "STOP, LET ME DOWN" She yelled as I shot flames at the rats right behind us forcing the others to back up a bit, "We're in a massive field of ghost circles, I need to lead from the front!" Thorn said as she started walking briskly ahead with everyone right behind her. Gathering their courage the rats raced after us as we reached the halfway point down the hill before a surprise happened. AEII-ZFF
ZFFT! ZFFT! PFT! ZFFT! PHH! SHRRAK!
"They're disappearing!" Fone Bone yelled as Rose forced him to look forward, "Don't look!". The screams kept going as we reached the bottom of the hill and turned around a bend, the screams stopped after a moment, the rats probably turned around rather than trying to get through safely. "Stay close, the ghost circles are still clustered up here." Thorn said as she led the way, "Can we stop for a moment?" Bartleby asked, "I need to rest." Thorn nodded as Smiley and Phoney got off his back and sat down.
Rose was still shocked by the fact that Briar was still alive as she kept mumbling to herself. "We need to get moving, we're still not safe." Thorn nodded as she helped Rose to her feet, "I'll lead the way."
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We walked for miles before Thorn had us stop, "The ghost circles are getting heavier up ahead instead of thinning out." She gestured in a direction "There is also another set of ghost circles coming up from the south, and there is a narrow band free of any ghost circles near Pawa." I let my mind drift as Rose and Thorn started talking about what route they should take, looking around the land was now desolate, not even trees were around here. The Bone were busy shocking each other with static so they didn't really care about what Thorn and Rose were talking about. Bartleby even shocked Smiley a few times. Finally they figured out which way we would go, "Thorn has found a path that will take us around the ghost circles that are blocking our path straight to Atheia, it'll take longer but will be safer." She said as she eyed Bartleby, " Can we trust your friend Smiley?" She asked and he nodded defending his new friend, Rose huffed but she let him stay though she made him walk in front of her.
The next few miles were fine, just boring until Smiley collapsed. "What happened?!" Fone Bone shouted as Bartleby drug him over "He collapsed from a lack of food! We kept insisting on sharing his portion with me!" Bartleby said as Fone Bone and Phoney fretted around their cousin. Rose picked him up, setting his head on her lap.
"Maybe we could find a farm or something in a ghost circle?" Fone Bone said looking at Thorn as she nodded and started looking, "This is dangerous, Pawa has gone over to the Locust, you'll give us away." Rose said but I sighed, "We don't have much of a choice right now Rose, we need food to survive." We sat in silence as Thorn and Fone Bone held hands and jumped into a ghost circle. "I'm surprised you didn't jump in after her." Phoney said, looking at me.
"Why would I do that?" I asked and he sat next to Smiley, "You're always following behind her, protecting and teaching her. It's weird to see you not with her." He said as Rose nodded her head. "She can't rely on me forever. Besides, my power is useless inside the dreaming." I said as Rose looked surprised, "But it seems so powerful? How could it be useless?" She asked.
"The dream is built on the belief people have in it, correct?" I asked and she nodded, "I don't believe in it, therefore I am weakened within it, that is why I let Fone Bone go since he believes in it more than I do." Plus my wings might come out again if I enter a ghost circle, I'd rather not have to explain that just yet. I thought to myself as we waited for Thorn and Fone Bone to come back.
We didn't have to wait long as they popped back into existence right where they left, though Thorn was on her knees now. "Are you ok?" Fone Bone asked her and she grinned, "Yeah I'm great."
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Smiley soon recovered once he ate a few apples that Thorn and Fone Bone brought back, as we walked Bartleby explained why the rats had given him back, turns out that they cut the tails of baby rats then crop the ears when they get older, but since Bartleby ran away after the cut his tail, he missed the day that they cut the ears and the older rats felt strange looking at a rat creature cub with ears so they gave him back since they didn't want him anymore.
As I listened I noticed that there were trees up ahead, they still seemed full of life but the air felt strange. Thorn also started to slow before falling to one knee, "Thorn! Are you ok?" Fone Bone cried as Rose helped her up, "I feel sick." She said weakly as Phoney asked what the forest of trees was, "That is the ONE place in the entire valley that hasn't fallen to the ghost circles." She said as she looked at the forest with a faraway look, "Tanen Gard, the ancient burial ground of the dragons."
We all stared at the forest for a moment before Rose broke the silence, "We need to get past that gorge, then I know people who can help us in the city." She said as she helped Thorn stand up. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Phoney said but I had seen Rose pale slightly, "What's the catch?" I asked and she turned to me, "It is forbidden for anyone other than the dragons to step foot in Tanen Gard, under punishment of death."
With that happy thought we picked our way down into the forest as we neared the gorge, I carried Thorn so that we didn't have to slow down as much but Fone Bone was still worried about her. "The hooded one knows we're here, she's coming." Thorn mumbled as we finally reached the gorge, "We just have to get across the gorge, it isn't very far then we will be past the ghost circles and Thorn will be safer, I just hope the legends about how deep the gorge is are exaggerated." Rose said as Fone Bone hopped down next to her, "How far down is it supposed to be?" he asked, peering down, "Bottomless."
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Smiley and Phoney were lagging behind a bit since they were talking but once the ground started to shake they quickly caught up with us. "We have to go across that?!" Phoney did not want to go across the bridge but Rose threatened to throw him across to the other side if he didn't hurry, "And you look like such a sweet old lady." He grumbled as he clambered up with Smiley right behind him. "Can you make it Bartleby?" Fone Bone asked, seeing the little rat all puffed up and shaking, "Y-yeah I'll be fine, just as soon as we get out of here!" Rose offered to carry Thorn but I didn't let her as I made my way up to the bridge.
"Keep an eye on the Bones in case they slip." I told Rose as we followed behind Fone Bone. Despite his terror Bartleby was making good progress with Smiley and Phoney bone right behind him, it was Fone Bone I was a little worried about since he was closer to the edge. I felt Thorn stir as we went over the chasm as she looked around at where we were when Fone Bone slipped. Faster than I realized Thorn jumped out of my arms and grabbed him, "Thorn you're ok!" He exclaimed as she drug him back up, "This place seems to be healing her." Rose said as she herded them the last part over the bridge.
"I can't believe we made it." Rose said in disbelief as we rested on the other side of the bridge, "No one has ever entered Tanen Gard and made it out alive." She said as Smiley cracked a joke making them smile, "I have more good news!" Thorn said, "We're outside the ghost circles!" She sounded better than she had since the mountain exploded so that was good. "What about Old man's Cave?" Rose asked but Thorn shook her head, "It's still dark in that direction so I don't know." She sounded a bit sad "But I'm sure if there are any survivors that they'll find their way south and out of the ghost circles."
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As we left Tanen Gard behind we started to climb a hill to get a better view of the surrounding area, near the top there were what appeared to be gravestones. "These are prayer stones." Rose explained, "People also carry a smaller version in small pouches around their necks." She said as she brought out her own and showed them before sitting down and digging a small hole with her hands, "People believe that burying a prayer stone in the ground delivers it straight to the dragons, the guardians of the dreaming." She said as she stood up and dusted off her hands. "Now let's get our bearings."
"That's the path we just took down from the burial grounds, Tanen Gard is part of the river system that connects to Old Man's Cave." She pointed in another direction, "To the south lies the old city of PAWA, but since its people have turned over to the Locust we need to avoid that place, so now we go WEST." She said pointing a new way, "It'll take us two days to travel to reach the gates of Atheia, there we will find our best chance of mounting a defense against the rats and the Hooded One. The ghost circles should slow the rats down enough for us to reach the city in time, but we'll still be out in the open."
"Will they still listen to you?" I asked Rose and she shrugged, "I haven't been to the city in years, so I'll be walking in blind just like you, but I can at least be a bit more stealthy compared to you." She grinned but she wasn't wrong, my type of stealth was killing everything in sight, Don't have to worry about witnesses if there's no one left to witness it.
"Let's get going then, come on Bone get a move on!" Rose corralled everyone to keep moving, but I stayed back for a moment longer, leaving behind a small mark on one of the prayer stones, you'd have to be looking for it to see it, but no one noticed as my palm healed and a small burst of heat washed through me. Soon