2 Night Two

The sun has yet to rise. I'm uncertain if it has died, or if the lands we rest in are under a curse; but we have been stuck in perpetual darkness for the entirety of the two weeks since entering this accursed forest.

I awoke this morning to our new Praetor, Axavia, shaking my shoulder. I had fallen asleep slouched against the rubble of the destroyed portal, curling against the banner for protection.

"Gather the men, we must leave this place soon. Ensure they have a hearty breakfast, for we shall march hard and fast. I fear the longer we remain here, the more likely we are to engage in combat." He stated, faint hints of concern in his eyes.

I nodded in acknowledgment, and roused the men. When I ensured they were prepared for our travels, I approached Praetor Axavia with the tenth Centuria remnants, as well as the engineering core, and our three remaining scouts.

"Ave, Praetor! These men of the tenth are our best fighters, assigned to the defense of our remaining engineers and scouts. They have also been assigned to your defense, sir, so use them as you would any other Centuria." I stated, standing at some semblance of attention.

"Their leader," I said, gesturing towards the demure woman to my right. "Is centurion Allia, the daughter of one of our greatest generals. Sadly, her father died in combat against one of the great monsters during our journey here." I stated, hoping to attract his attention towards her.

While I didn't believe he'd attempt to leave us, if we encountered fellow Zerisians, I'd prefer to have him bound to our legion instead of risking him being taken by other interested parties.

"Neat." He said, barely sparing Allia a glance, before moving on to the engineers and the scouts.

"What happened that so thoroughly decimated our scouting and engineering cores?" He asked, turning towards me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my adopted daughter slump slightly in disappointment at being so casually disregarded; but I had to focus on our praetor's question.

"Well sir, our scouts were the first to encounter new beasts. For a while, our only way of telling if we should avoid a spot was when our scouts would give off their final death knells." I said slowly, with a tone of deep regret.

"It was only until we had lost too many of our scouts that we realized their true worth. There's no way to get a supply column out here, and our scouts are the only ones who can identify what is and isn't extraordinary poisonous in this new and twisted world." I said, remembering how many of my legionaries had spent their last moments coughing up blood as a result of eating the wrong wild meal.

Praetor Axavia nodded, before gesturing towards the engineers, and motioning for me to continue.

"We lost most of our engineers in fortification projects. It was only until much later that we learned how intelligent some of the monsters are, but by then we were down to barely a thousand men. All the rest we lost in combat when we organized ourselves for traditional line based warfare." I said, trailing off as images of the massacres that occurred from flanking attacks came forth unheeded once more.

I shuddered, before shaking my head and refocusing on our praetor. "So, sir, do you have a plan?" I asked, wondering how we were going to escape this twilight forest.

"I do, but I'll require a map. As one of the scouts get that, you are going to accompany me as we see how well the legionaries do at formation shifts. Come, Legatus Legionis Remus. And... centurion Allia, was it? Attend me as well." Axavia stated, before turning his complete attention to the engineers.

"Engineers, pay attention. In the world I harkened from, I too was an engineer. However, our engineering had progressed to the point where we were able to shake loose the fickle bonds of gravity, and soar free in the heavens above. With your help, I can make that reality in this world as well." Praetor Axavia said, a look of complete seriousness on his face.

The engineers looked stupefied, but that quickly turned to excitement; as they realized on critically important fact. This dude is from another plane of existence entirely!

"To achieve this goal, we will need certain hard to obtain resources. But most importantly, we will need metal and waterproof fabric. Do any of you know where we might encounter large quantities of those materials?" Axavia asked, and the looks of excitement quickly turned to looks of hesitance.

"Well, praetor, perhaps in the ruins of zerisia? It's the civilization that our legion harkens from, but it has likely fallen to the legions of the damned in our absence." The head engineer, Praefectus Castrorum Vultes, said hesitantly.

"Then to the ruins we shall go. We shall even loot the graves of the dead, if necessary, for the souls of the dead care little for the happenings of the mortal world. Survival, by an means!" Axavia shouted, shaking the soldiers free from their hesitancy.

"Scouts, remain with me. Tenth Centuria, protect the engineers at any cost. Allia, Remus, remain with me as well. The rest of you... inform the legion that we shall march. Double column, five lines. Form up by Centuria, with the strongest at the corners." Praetor Axavia stated, and the men hastened to obey.

Allia, bless her demure heart, moved up to Praetor Axavia's left, while I stood at his right. The scouts stood behind us, forming a triangular shape. The legion formed up behind us in a rectangular shape, the engineers and the tenth in the middle; with the best two Centuria at the top corners. The weaker Centuria formed the second line behind that, as we sallied forth.

We marched along at a solid speed, working our way through the misty forest, before Praetor Axavia jerked to a stop.

"Hold! Not one step forward, men! FORM DEFENSIVE ENCIRCLEMENT, DO NOT ENGAGE!" He roared, his had dropping to his gladius.

There, in the mist before us, was a pair of glowing yellow eyes. The pupil was verticle, instead of circular. And the eyes, they watched us, sweeping over me before settling on the praetor.

Axavia held his hand out towards me, and said one word. "Banner."

I handed it to him, and dropped my own hand to my gladius. Allia seemed confused about what had so upset our praetor, but prepared for combat nonetheless.

Then, out of the darkness, a confused looking woman emerged. She was beautiful, with long black hair, and an enticing figure. But... she was unlike any zerisian I had ever seen. Her face had an odd childish quality to it, as though she had eternal youth. And her robes were unlike anything a zerisian woman would wear. They were far to concealing, while simultaneously accenting her every move.

The longer I looked at her, the more I felt myself being drawn in. Then, with a rush of golden light, a formless pressure emanated from the banner and settled upon me. I shook myself free from the trance, and diverted my eyes from her.

"Hold, proud spirit. Be you kitsune, or Kumiho? I wish to know, so that I may give proper supplications." Our Praetor said, while bowing in her direction.

From the direction of the woman, soothing, seductive voice emerged. "Ohh, a man who knows of my kind. How rare, how intriguing. Come forth, so I might gift you with the knowledge of the kitsune." Then, from within the darkness of her robes, she withdrew a small, pale orb. It was a pale metal, as white as the moon, and it sparkled with inner might.

Our praetor kneeled down completely on the ground, before pressing his head to the floor three times. "Oh mighty kitsune, I am not worthy." He said, and the men looked on in shock. A praetor is not meant to kneel before anyone, except the Caesar.

The kitsune licked her lips sensually, before responding. "Come now, youngling, a simple gift is not the only thing of mine I find you deserving of..." she purred the last part, as she seductively parted her robe, slowly revealing more and more of her pale leg in the glow of the moon above.

The higher the revealed portion got, the more and more entranced I became by the sight. My loins became enflamed, and all thought of my surroundings were disregarded. Then, once more, the staff exploded with power. It's for less pressure washed over the legion once more, invisible to all.

Before my eyes, I watched our praetor rise. No more was he humble, nor more did he seem submissive. Now, he appeared as a returning conquerer, ready for his triumphs.

He strode forth, approaching the kitsune with the banner of the legion held aloft. When he reached the kitsune, she pressed herself against him, as a lover would her spouse. She looked up at him with a loving smile on her face, and held the orb up for him.

Then, in a flash, Praetor Axavia slammed the legion banner against her upturned face. I gasped, as I watched him mercilessly beat the golden eagle into her destroyed face, before turning the banner around and impaling her fallen form on the bottom spike.

The world was silent, as not a single legionary dared draw breath. The wind refused to blow, as though terra was holding it's breath.

Then, Axavia reached down, and picked up the orb. He inspected it, before putting it in his mouth, and swallowing it. He ripped the bloody banner from the fallen woman, and held it aloft, pointing it at the sky.

"For the heavens above," He shouted, before sweeping the banner down to face horizontal to the land. "For the earth around," he said, before sweeping the banner around behind him to point at the legion. "And for the men I protect. You shall harm zerisians no more, Kumiho. Leave us this day, or be hunted across the face of this planet; freedom or enslavement, Kumiho. Which do you chose?" Praetor Axavia asked, staring at the corpse of the dead woman with the banner held before him.

Then, before our eyes, the Kumiho rose. Gone was the seductive tone, the beautiful form. Now, she was a nine tailed fox, with blood dripping from her maw, and rage in her eyes. She spoke once more, this time in harsh, grating words.

"You have stolen my orb, human. What purpose is there to fleeing now, if I shall merely starve another day?" She bared her teeth then, and threw herself at our praetor.

Allia stabbed her through with her gladius, gutting the Kumiho in midair. The Kumiho flopped on the floor, before curling up and dying. I relaxed, knowing the danger had passed.

A simple pulse of energy through the banner was able to shatter that illusion, as Praetor Axavia stated at the Kumiho hiding in the tree above.

"You can just make a new one, wench. I'm certain there are plenty of humanoid monsters you could hunt and flay. Just disregarded my legionaries, and I will let you leave. But if you continue with your pitiful illusions, I will be forced to enslave you. And we both know how that would end." Axavia said casually, as though this was just any other day to him.

The Kumiho growled at him once more, before scampering off into the tree cover above. Axavia disregarded that, and turned to face us.

"Men! From this day forth, her form will be illuminated for you to see! If you spot her form again, kill her. Her illusions will not work on you, so disregard anything you see and stab for the illuminated outline. UNDERSTOOD?!" Our praetor shouted, and we roared back.

"Ave, Praetor!"

Praetor Axavia turned back around, and we continued on our march, fury and shame burning in our hearts for having been so easily fooled by that monster.

When a full hour's march has passed, I turned to our praetor and asked a burning question. "What was the point of swallowing that orb she gave you?"

He turned to me, and shrugged. "It's supposed to give you knowledge of the future if you do the supplications correctly, but that doesn't help me much. After all, how can her pitiful knowledge compre to that of my homeland? It doesn't even contain knowledge on how to purify water properly, let alone how to split the atom." Axavia said, pausing for a moment before continuing.

"It's understandable that she lacked that stored knowledge, considering how she gains it. Basically, she convinces you to take the bead in your mouth with promises of a sinfully good time, and then takes it from your tongue with her own. And, in the process, she also steals your knowledge and adds it to her orb. If she finds that knowledge lacking, or is feeling slightly hungry... she steals your liver. Kumiho are not to be messed with, as they are vengeful and petty spirits."

"Then, praetor, should we really have let her leave?" I asked, alarmed.

"Oh, she never left." He said, looking up into the tree cover. Immediately after his gaze shifted, the tree cover rustled as something within scampered off.

"We have nothing to fear from her, Legatus Legionis Remus. Without her orb, she cannot access any of her advanced powers. She isn't foolish enough to attack any of you while the banner's power reigns supreme, and she's more intrigued by me than she is angered. Although, if she thinks I'll fall for such a simple illusion, she clearly wasn't paying attention when I said her true form was illuminated." Praetor Axavia explained calmly, before dropping in a battle stance and spearing into a nearby bush with the eagle of the banner.

Out from the bush came the yowling kumiho, with a glowing golden eagle sigil branded into her fur. She hissed at us before running off again, but this time the sound of golden chimes ringing followed her around.

"She'll learn soon enough not to face the power of the legion." Axavia said, rolling his eyes and moving on as though nothing had happened.

Allia, my adopted daughter, shuddered. "I didn't even know she was there..." she muttered to herself, barely loud enough for me to hear. I nodded in agreement, before speaking up.

"Praetor, I feel like you might be underestimating the power of this... kumiho. Anything capable of disguising themselves so well is a danger to the legion, and must be exterminated without mercy." I said, standing tall and preparing myself to defend my position.

"Perhaps so, Remus. But I view the kumiho as a figure to pity. They used to be ancient beasts of knowledge and power, but their entire line is fallen to a curse. The stories of old tell of them helping ancient scholars access age-old lore. Sharing a kiss of knowledge was seen as an honorable action, and stealing their knowledge was seen as a shameful act. Regardless of what they once were, they are currently a threat. But... the kumiho are truly the least of our concerns right now." Praetor Axavia rambled for a bit, expediting some of his seemingly boundless knowledge, before stopping at a tree.

The tree was peculiar, curving and sprawling in complete opposition to the straight and tall nature of the other trees. And, attached to the tree by four iron circles, was an odd contraption.

It was a metal outer case, with a circular roll of something white inside it. Hanging down from the opening was a single sheet of a linen-like appearance.

Our praetor hesitantly approached, and wiped away a thin layer of condensed dew from the mist-covered outer container. He looked at the sigil upon it - a circle with three lines interspersed in the shape of a triangle - and nodded to himself once.

Then, he used the blade of his gladius to loosen the iron circles with crosses at the center, and pulled the shield from the tree entirely.

He stowed his black tome within a pocket of his overcoat, and stowed his gladius in It's sheath. Then, he returned to our group with the container in his left hand, and the banner in his right.

"Does anyone have any twine? Also, a sore price of linen would be exceedingly helpful in preventing our imminent demise." He said casually, looking at our group.

Allia stepped forth, and pulled some spare linens and twine from somewhere, before handing them over to Axavia.

"Thank you, Allia." He said, granting her a brief smile before returning his attention to the container.

I turned to Allia, and leaned in so I could whisper in her ear. "I don't recall you having any spare linens..." I said, trailing off.

Her face immediately blushed bright red, and she murmured back. "I don't."

Oh my. I turned back towards Axavia, to see him looking up at me with a slight smirk. He winked at me, before storing the linen-wrapped container in a satchel hidden behind his overcoat.

"Well, now that our imminent demise from thermal siphoning has been averted, let's continue forth. There's still several days worth hiking left until we can exit this hellish twilight forest!" He said, turning away from me and raising the banner high.

Off in the distance, I could faintly hear the twinkling of golden bells...