TJ involuntarily sent his tongue flicking out of his mouth as he took his measure of the marsh under the bridge. Again, this terrain reinforced the fact that the world from before the Integration was no more. He was born and raised in the Valley, and there was nothing like a swamp that could be found anywhere within 100 miles, so far as he knew. Right here, though, where the only body of water anywhere nearby was manmade, there was a whole marsh, with cattails, chirping frogs, and hundreds of other things that TJ had no idea what their names were. After all, he'd only ever seen pictures of swamps, and didn't know anything about them. Regardless, he could tell that this was a new place that had nothing to do with the unremarkable desert landscape that the area had been before.
The taste of humidity and rotting meditation filled his mouth and nose at the same time, TJ's enhanced Perception screaming information pertaining to the marsh he slithered through There was life here, something that the desert refused to offer so freely. Again, TJ tried to Appraise the world around him, but to little avail, only getting responses back like Reed, Moss, and Frog. Deciding not to lose himself in such meaningless pursuits, TJ instead focused on any movement that he could detect. There was a constant, almost painful sound filling the air, the incessant cacophony of insects, small animals, and birds. TJ couldn't imagine that there were any of the thunderbirds in here, but just recognizing the sound of birdsong put him on edge.
It was nearly impossible to tell what around him was potentially threatening and what was unimportant, his senses and experience entirely tailored towards different environments. Were he in the mountains or in the desert, he would know what to do, or at least where to start, but here, he was out of his depth. Then, he heard something, and as he turned his attention to look deeper in the shadows of the marsh, he saw a brief flicker of movement.
"Molly! Is that you?" TJ called out as he slithered forward, his attention focused entirely on his surroundings in the hopes that he could ensure that he wasn't stumbling into a trap or something like it. The movement didn't reappear, and nobody responded, but even so, the fact that something was moving meant that there was something to pursue. Even if it was an enemy. TJ cracked a grin as he spread his awareness through the winds that blew through the trees and over the stale, stagnant water until his indescribable sense of self spread beyond where he saw the movement.
Strangely, there was nothing of note there. Nothing solid that wasn't a branch or water or something similarly entirely ordinary. But for there to have been movement, there had to have been something there…
With nothing else calling his attention, standing out, or even moving, TJ decided to follow the movement he'd seen. After all, even if it wasn't one of the four people he was looking for, he'd still find something worth looking into while he continued doing what he needed to do. He spread his senses, trying to feel, hear, taste, or smell anything, but despite all he did, there was nothing. A small, stupidly confident part of him, nearly grumbled aloud about how all this was strange, but he quickly tamped down that foolhardy lack of thought. Instead, he followed his intuition for a short time, just long enough to catch another flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye.
Turning, TJ could see that there was something glowing very faintly in the air out in front of him. Before he could turn his attention fully towards it, though, it disappeared entirely. Lunging, pushing his speed as fast as he could manage even with Wind Manipulation, TJ still had no idea what it was. Before he could grow close, it was gone again, and without any traces. TJ's scales flared out involuntarily, feeling like goosebumps going down the entire length of his body. Suddenly, the thought of a Chindi crossed his mind, and TJ was no longer nearly so confident about just stalking off into the marsh where he knew nothing, all by himself. Instead of continuing to follow flickers of motion that only appeared in the corner of his eye, TJ extended himself more upright, his neck stretching until his head was a full 15 feet off the ground at least.
Despite looking in every direction, he couldn't see anything that stood out to him as worth chasing down so he nearly gave up on following the flickering movement for now. Instead of following this hunch again, he spread his awareness in every direction while he mentally shifted his intent from tracking something to instead feeling the presence of any spirits. This wasn't anything that he had any real experience with, but with an entirely unwarranted measure of confidence in his Bloodline's natural predisposition towards spirits, he just gave himself enough trust to follow his inclinations.
When flickers of movement appeared again about a minute later, TJ didn't pay them any attention. He noted that whatever was making them somehow knew just what was at the edge of his ability to perceive, putting him more and more on edge. Instead of throwing himself after the movement, he demanded that his sense of smell look for something beyond the ordinary and something deeper. Maybe it was pure foolishness to expect that to even be a possibility, but that was the only thing that occurred to him as possible. There wasn't a sixth sense or anything to put his trust in. Maybe it wasn't his sense of smell, but TJ figured that the System would reward him if he genuinely gave into the delusion that he could sense spirits. Just thinking that consciously made him feel stupid, of course he wasn't gonna be able to smell a spirit—
Something inside of him made him turn his attention to something a ways off, maybe two dozen feet from where he'd seen the movement and he stretched his whatever inexplicable sense towards the source of the strange feeling. As his consciousness settled into the foreign location, almost feeling like when he used Stormcaller and lost his connection to his body, TJ felt a presence there. It didn't make any sense, and he couldn't see anything, but he didn't doubt himself. With a quick thought, TJ conjured a set of raking claws of wind that flew through the air in the direction of the spiritual presence.
As soon as the attack passed through the space that he felt might be suspect, the wind flickered and passed around his unseen target. A blue billowing flame surrounded by a wrought iron lantern exploded into existence as a thick bar of searing light flew towards him. With an instinctive flick of his will, TJ conjured a shield of wind in front of his face, and the concentrated flames flowed over and past his guard. Flames licked at his scales, and TJ felt his skin crisping underneath his natural protections. He grunted in pain, but Appraised the creature that was attacking him.
Will-o'-the-wisp (Copper I), 28.
While he didn't know any of the mythology surrounding will-o'-the-wisps, TJ figured it wasn't a good thing to stand there all alone, face-to-face with a possibly entirely spiritual monster. Regardless of what might be a good idea, this is the situation he was in, and it didn't seem like it was an Elite tier. As such, TJ engaged in combat while paying close attention to his Attributes. Nothing changed, so it definitely was just a run of the mill monster, though still dangerous.
With a thought, TJ created a cage of wind around what seemed to be the body of the monster, the antique looking lamp. He attempted to siphon the air out, to suffocate the flame, but the will of the monster was too strong, at least at first. It sent lashes of blue flame at him, whipping wildly through the air and setting parts of the surroundings aflame. With a hissing roar of effort, TJ continued to force his will over the space, and though gouts of flame shot out to harm, ward off, or kill him, the coatl continued to trap the disembodied creature. Before long, the soft, pitiful noises that resembled the whimpers of a dying creature filled the area, and would have softened his heart just a couple months ago, but now, it meant nothing to him.
Now that the creature was stuck within the magically maintained cage, TJ figured he could dispatch it in the same way that was already obviously weakening his enemy. As he continued to vacuum all of the air out of the small monster's prison, TJ's same instinct that had brought him to know where the will-o'-the-wisp was in the first place screamed at him in warning. He spread his awareness, searching for what it was that was causing him some measure of fear, just in time for another blast of superheated air to fly into his face.
He needed to fight to keep the other will-o'-the-wisp stuck within his trap as a second one appeared and made itself known by nearly burning his face off. The blistering heat still was an agony, but TJ suffered through it as the second monster tried to kill him. He shouted in defiance, but before he could focus on the second in such a way that would allow him to keep both of the monsters trapped at the same time, the faint splash of something behind him alerted him. Without thinking, he reacted.
As he threw a blade of wind enhanced by Wind Scythe behind him, TJ was grateful he'd been so decisive with his action. It cut into flesh, and though he couldn't see it while it happened, the strange animalistic scream of pain that filled the air was more than enough of a warning of the ambusher's existence. TJ turned just in time to see what he could only describe as a monstrous plesiosaur ducking back into the water. A long, serpentine neck with a dinosaur-like head with three horns on it, a cavernous maw, and angry beady eyes darted back into the water and out of his immediate reach. Even so, he managed to get an Appraisal off on it before it disappeared.
Bunyip (Copper I), 31
There was another name that he knew absolutely nothing about. Even so, TJ could follow the physical monster much more easily than the possible incorporeal, possibly invisible will-o'-the-wisps. Faint ripples covered the water's surface as it darted through the water with its fins propelling it through water that, to TJ's knowledge, was far too shallow to house the 20 foot long, 5 foot tall body that hauled the long neck and head. The smooth flesh almost looked like that of a seal, and the mottled coloration faded almost perfectly into the dark water.
The two will-o'-the-wisps seemed to become desperate just as soon as he drove off the bunyip, their attention focused on escaping now. While one was trapped, its magic or Skills unable to pass through the constraints that TJ put on it, the other fought to burn away the entrapment. After a moment, the free one seemed to come to a conclusion, sent a last blistering burst of flame at TJ, and faded away. Before he could stretch his attention further and try to track the potentially rare monster down, the trapped one exploded in a pale blue supernova, the constraints TJ had forced on it disappearing. As it happened, though, something else flashed in his vision.
Will-o'-the'wisp (Copper I), Level 28, Slain. Experience gained.