The Corrupted Ritual

As we neared the center of the village, a streak of pink and orange dashed into our view. My sword was out as I prepared to engage the creature.

"It can't be." Lariss said.

"Do you know what that is?" I asked.

"I… I think I do." She walked forward holding out her hand and making cooing noises. From around a treehouse a strange creature came out. It had a skinny orange furred body with a puffy pink mane and similarly colored poofs around its legs and tail, like a poodle. It had a long dog-like snout with one fang on the right side and floppy orange ears. There was a doopy look on its face and it could have passed for a weird puppet.

"Floofian?" The creature responded when Lariss said its name. The creature bounded forward and began to lick her hand.

"I'm not sure you should interact with it. What is this thing?" I didn't have a chill in my heart but something was off.

"It's from stories my mother used to tell me, Floofian the friendly monster. When I was too scared to fall asleep, my mother would calm me down with stories about Floofian. I would then spend the night dreaming about him." She said.

"It's not real and I'm not sure what will happen if you try to fully interact with it." I said.

"You're right. It's just a creature from my dreams." Lariss stood and turned her back to Floofian. When she did, the creature began to fade away.

"Let's head to the last ritual site." I said. She nodded and led the way.

As we started to head away from the center of the village the sound of waves crashing on the shore came to us. I could feel the warm ocean breeze and smell the salt in the air. Closing my eyes I steeled my mind for what was coming.

"Daddy come swim with us." A young boy called out as his sister giggled behind him as she ran into the crashing waves. I could visualize it all from the many times I had dreamed about this vacation.

"Honey you should…."

"It's not real!" I yelled and the sensations ceased.

When I opened my eyes, Lariss was looking all around us bewildered.

"What kind of dreams do you have? Those clothes, that city. I've never seen or even heard of anything like that in the world." Lariss looked at me as if she had no idea who or what I was.

"Now's not the time. I'll explain everything after we leave the forest. It's a lot to take in." I had a feeling that I might one day have to explain Earth and my vague destiny to someone one day. I had just hoped that that day would be in the hypothetical far future and not the immediate future.

Making our way towards the last ritual site I began to notice the sun was setting but I was sure that we should still have a few more hours before night. The maze had taken a while to get through but not this long.

"I'm not sure we should attempt this at night." I said.

"I don't think we should head back to the center of the village. That seems to be where our dreams become reality." Lariss said.

We found another treehouse that was still in good condition and prepared to wait out the night. After an hour the light hadn't changed, it had stayed exactly the same. It wasn't until the time that I originally thought sunset should be happening, that it turned to full night.

Throughout the night I feared that Lariss was going to start to ask me about the dreams made reality that she had seen. Thankfully she just rested. As dawn came we began to head towards the ritual site but noticed that the light stopped at a certain point. It was the same amount of light that had been there when we stopped and waited several hours for it to change to night.

To test a theory I was having we walked back toward the center of the village only for it to become lighter. When we went back the way we came, it became darker.

"It's not going to matter what time of day it is when we go, it's always going to be dark." I said.

I pulled out two Bright Stones and handed one to Lariss. There weren't many left from the ones that I had obtained from Kloan. They didn't last forever and most people didn't think the cost was worth the benefit. Torches were a lot cheaper.

By the time it became as dark as night we arrived at the mouth of a cave. Entering I had to crouch slightly and we soon found ourselves entering a spherical opening. Dull light shown from pockets of crystals around the cave. In the center was a large purple toadstool with yellow spots. On the toadstool was a bunch of torn straw.

As I took a step forward I became slightly dizzy. After a few more steps the dizziness didn't change but I wasn't getting as close to the toadstool as I should. When I looked back at the entrance it looked further away than it should be. Lariss also looked a few feet away but after she took a step she was right next to me. She placed a hand on my shoulder to steady herself.

"The perspective is off here. I'm not sure how large this place actually is." I said.

"Let's keep together." She didn't remove her hand from my shoulder as we continued forward.

When we arrived at the toadstool, Lariss picked up the straw and inspected it. There were bits of a dried flaky black substance on the straw. It looked like the dried form of the sludge or ooze that I had seen at some of the other ritual sites.

"Has someone else already been here?" I said.

"I don't know. The area still contains the corruption from the failed ritual but the totem that was used has been destroyed." Lariss said.

"Oh yes, corruption still lingers here." A high pitched man's voice echoes through the cave.

"Who are you?" I looked around but couldn't see anything. The voice echoed around us and the rough walls contained enough spaces to hide in.

"Kekekeke. I can be so many people. I just need to change my face." There was a slight sloshing noise before the voice started again this time as a woman. "You both have pretty faces. Two new pretty faces for me."

"No, no it can't be." Lariss began to panic.

"You know me, you know me. What a similar face you have?" It said.

"Who is it Lariss?" I asked

"It sounds like my mother." She replied.

"Yes, mother. I am your mother." The thing began to crawl out of a crevice towards the top of the cave. Its body was human in shape with longer limbs and straw like hair. The skin was black and shriveled and it wore a dirty blouse and skirt that weren't more than rags. On its head, pulled tight, was a mask made from the face of a woman.

An flaming arrow surrounded by lighting flew towards the creature but even though it looked to be headed straight towards its target it landed several feet away. The area around the impact burst into ice. Lariss stumbled from the effort of the shot.

"Now, now, my child, that wasn't nice. You'll have to be punished." It waved its hands towards two sides of the cave. From crevices two large straw humanoid effigies crawled out. On their heads were masks made from faces. They started towards us and with every step they moved in a strange manner that gave me a headache. The area around them warped and they seemed close and far away at the same time.

"Do you think the cleansing would do anything?" I said.

"I can try." As I waited for them to draw closer, Lariss pulled out the dust, sprinkle it on the straw on the toadstool and started the prayer.

One of the strawmen raised its arm to strike but looked to be half way through the cave. I raised my shield with my Osgar aura and with another step its strike hit my shield. My sword swung out but the strawman was back a few feet from me.

The other one leapt forward toward Lariss and I sent out my Moonlight Lightning Slash that collided with the strawman. Its chest burst open and it fell backwards. I tried to get closer to it but every step I took didn't bring me any closer. Looking back I was several feet from Lariss as the other one charged towards her. With my Speed going I tried to get close to her but everything warped around me and I ended up on the opposite side of them.

Without stopping her prayer, Lariss raised her hand and a burst of fire engulfed the strawman. It was at least three times as powerful as my Firebolt. It stepped back towards me and I was now close enough to strike through it. My Lydos aura added to the burning of her Firebolt. Even with all that it started to rise to grab onto me. With another strike I cut through the mask. It fell to the ground as the straw burned.

It then took me several steps to reach Lariss' side as the other strawman stumbled towards us. I blocked with my shield and swiped towards its head. It collapsed as its face mask was cut in half. When I looked back over the creature was standing over the other strawman. It pulled a face from a pouch at its hip and placed it on the strawman that started to pull itself back together.

"I have many faces, many, many faces." It said.

Lariss finished the prayer and nothing happened to the straw on the toadstool. The creature began to head back towards the cave wall.

"That thing is the corruption. We have to kill it." I said.

"Yes we do." Lariss turned and started walking towards the creature.

I tried to follow but her steps took her further away from me. The revived strawman took one step and was right in front of me.

"Mother." Lariss said and spread her arms out towards the creature.

"Daughter, what a lovely face you have." The creature turned and with a single step, it was in front of Lariss. Its fingernails elongated and reached towards Lariss' face.

When the creature entered between her arms, Lariss tossed her dust into its face. It screamed as it stumbled backwards, falling and spasming on the ground. A ripple emitted from its body and as I moved forward, I moved the correct distance.

My Lydos infused sword stabbed through its head. Black blood spewed from the wound. Lariss shot a Fire Arrow through the face of the revived Strawman. Then she started the prayer again. The creature tried to pull my sword out of its head but I just pushed more of my aura and lightning into my sword.

When the prayer finished the creature stopped moving. The black blood poured out of its body and its withered body deflated. We took a step back and used our magic to burn the body. After that Lariss leaned against me as a few tears fell down her face.