Scramble

Roko chased the book and the monster fleeing with it into the forest but against such a small and agile creature, Roko quickly lost track of it, slowing to a stop as he was forced to catch his breath and stop his head from spinning.

"Were you just going to leave me there?" Aida asked as she walked up behind him.

"You had a knife." Roko gasped, "And you're in much better shape than me."

"Well, that's true enough." Aida shrugged, "At any rate, we've managed to escape the village and any pursuers again so we're safe right now, though we don't have a place to rest at anymore."

"You don't even seem winded chasing after me." Roko scowled, "This hardly seems fair."

"World's unfair like that." Aida shrugged.

"That's not something I want to hear from a kid." Roko sighed, "At any rate, we need to track down this book."

"Didn't you say it was fake?" Aida tilted her head, "Is it still important in some way?"

"If what you said about your village was true then it certainly can't be just a copy." Roko bit his lip, "I don't get it. If the same power that created the grimoires created this book then why is it so different? If this book was copied by someone owning an actual grimoire then why does it still exhibit power like it was created by a god? There has to be some explanation."

"If you don't know, then there's no way I'd know." Aida sighed, "More importantly, what are you going to do now? I told you all that I know. Your friends are probably looking for you so you should probably head back to your school. There's not much you can do by yourself anyway. This isn't your forest anyway so there's no reason for you to stay here."

"Maybe." Roko scoffed, "But that means leaving these creatures alone and if that happens, they'll just start spreading outside of the forest. If it's not my problem now it will be eventually. I imagine my school's headmaster is not planning on leaving this situation alone either as they already destroyed the tomb where I first came across these creatures. And if how they handled the tomb is any indication, destroying this entire forest is not out of the question."

"T-The entire forest?!"

"I would hope those in power would be more sensible, but I also don't know how they could stop this invasion without drastic measures. Either they take a drastic route that wipes out everything to make sure none of these things survive or they risk leaving a handful alive and able to propagate again."

"...Even still." Aida scoffed, "There's no reason for you to risk yourself for a forest that's doomed already. There's no point in doing so."

"You're still here." Roko replied matter-of-factly, "Getting you out of the forest safely is reason enough to stick around."

"You want me to leave?" Aida scowled.

"I'm not going to force you. If you want to die in this forest with the rest of your people, then I won't stop you. But even before that, the idea of coming into this forest, learning from its flora and fauna and then abandoning it when it gets taken over like this doesn't sit well with me. If nothing else, I'm not leaving until I get that book back."

Aida looked away, unprepared for the earnestness that Roko had replied with, "W-Well, what can you even do now? The book's gone and it could be anywhere in this entire forest."

"...There is one possibility."

"You can't be serious." Aida looked up, surprised.

"That book was in the flesh pillar so it could be taken to another pillar."

"Another pillar? Why do you think that?"

"There was a body in the pillar with the book. However, that body is your father's, who I assume was responsible for destroying the book three months ago?"

"Yeah." Aida nodded, "I did find it weird that his body would still be here, especially after being put into one of those pillars."

"Of note, there was no appearance of any monsters from the pillar or the corpse. My initial assumption was that the pillars would absorb a corpse and slowly convert the dead body into living monsters. I don't think I'm yet proven wrong in that regard."

"Then what's going on?"

"...My guess is that the body was being used to restore the book."

"Restore the book?" Aida raised an eyebrow, "With a dead body?"

"Honestly, I don't think they even know how to use anything else as a resource."

"Okay but they can create dozens of monsters a day but can't restore a book using one body in over three months?"

"That's because it's not just the restoration of the book it's attempting, it's trying to empower the book."

"Empower?" Aida gulped, "You mean...it's trying to turn the copy into a real grimoire?"

"That's the conclusion I came up with." Roko bit his lip, "The fact that this copy still exhibits power means that the one behind it recognizes the copy but since it's not legitimate, it's powers can't be channeled properly."

"THIS is it struggling to apply its powers?!" Aida cried, "The forest's animals are all dead!"

"I know." Roko sighed, "Though I doubt it would have come to this if we had known about this instead of letting it happen for three months."

"..."

"Sorry for not acting sooner."

"What are you apologizing for?" Aida scoffed, "It's not like you could have done anything."

"Well, I can at least try to do something now."

"By finding the book right?"

"Yeah. If my theory is correct, the book has to be encased within a pillar with a body as a resource. By that logic, if we can figure out where the flesh pillars are, we could wipe them all out until we find it."

"That sounds easier than it is." Aida said, "How are you going to find these pillars?"

"That depends on you."

"Me?"

"These pillars are made to process corpses. That means it's most likely to be established where there are corpses to be used. Tombs seem to be their ideal environment. Do you know of anymore tombs?"

"Tombs..." Aida repeated running through her thoughts, "Yeah...yeah I think I know a few places we can check."

"Then we have a plan."

"But what if the book isn't there?" Aida asked, "What do we do?"

"Destroy it and move on."

"Destroy it?"

"So we don't we'll have to backtrack to see if the book has retreated there in the meantime. We can only make progress if we slowly eliminate possibilities."

"I know that, but how do you plan on destroying them?"

"Well, it would help if I had a weapon at least." Roko mused.

"I could make a wooden spear but I don't think it'll last long against what we're up with." Aida shrugged.

"...Then our best option is to steal one off a corpse." Roko nodded, "I assume you don't have any problems with this idea?"

"Looting?" Aida sighed, "It's not exactly an honorable thing to do but I guess I don't have any problems given our situation."

"Perfect." Roko stood up, "Then our best move now is to find a tomb that has the best chance of having a weapon. Do you know where any warriors might be buried?"

"Hmmm...I only know about two possible tombs." Aida explained, "Honestly, they both have about equal chances of having weapons."

"Then how about which one's closest?"

"Let's see...we went south of the village for about a half a mile. That means...we're going to have to turn around and head north...northwest to Gradia's Tomb."

"You're surprisingly adept at this."

"What do you mean? Knowing how to measure distance is a basic skill everyone knows."

"Maybe not everyone."

"Man, what are they teaching you in school nowadays?"

"Do you even go to school?"

"Not a school but I do go to class." Aida smirked, "Well...not anymore now."

"..."

"Anyway..." Aida sighed, "Let's get that lead out and get moving right?"

Following Aida's lead, Roko moved cautiously through the forest. There were tentacle creatures everywhere, crawling and wandering about in small disjointed groups. There wasn't a single animal left anywhere Roko could see. No deer, no squirrels, not even the chirping of birds could be heard in the branches of the trees, leaving the forest unnaturally quiet. The slithering and growls of the monsters were the only things left. Their movements were loud enough to be heard in advance even by Roko but if they could hear the monsters, the monsters could certainly hear them. And if they caught onto the rustling of grass and bushes as they moved about, they could descend on them in an instant. The thought made every movement of Roko's body feel heavy as he tried to move while causing the least amount of noise. Aida on the other hand kept moving with much more confidence, even as they came harrowingly close to a few groups at times. Roko could feel a great wave of relief when the tomb they were looking for appeared in the distance. It was built exactly like the tomb he had first see, a circular stone hemisphere left in the middle of a large field in the forest.

"There it is." Aida poked her head out of the woods and looked around cautiously, "Let's get in as fast as we can alright?"

Roko nodded and the two dashed up to the tomb's entrance, checking one last time before rushing inside. The inside of the tomb was also quite similar to what Roko could remember of the tomb from before. The darkness didn't exactly help him make any comparisons but Aida quickly found some torches and lit them.

"Here we are." Aida sighed as she looked around at the desolate tomb, "Do you think they're going to come bursting out of these coffins?"

"From my experience, yes." Roko grimaced, "Move carefully."

Aida followed Roko into the main chamber where the bricks soon transformed into tentacles, drawing them into an eldritch chamber. Damp with the breaths of exposed inhuman living tissue and the stench of musty dead, Roko could see the young Aida shivering under the unnatural conditions. Like the tomb before it, coffins filled the crevices in the wall and a flesh pillar was set in the back of the chamber, almost pulsating in the dim light.

"So which of these coffins do you think has a weapon in it?"

"How should I know? I've never come in here." Aida gingerly approached one of the coffins, drawing her knife and carefully touched the lid.

Roko walked up to the same coffin and threw off the lid with no regards to caution, startling the girl beside him and stirring a cloud of dust off...well, pretty much everything. Before the dust could settle and they could see what was inside, something jumped out of the coffin at Roko's face. Roko caught the tentacled maw monster in mid air, the creature trying to snap its jaws at him. But Roko's hands had found its way in between the teeth and he was prying the teeth, and really the monster's entire body back as he forced the monster's mouth open. For a moment, Roko could have sworn he heard the monster gagging. Roko slammed the eldritch being against the edge of the coffin, lodging the edge in between the teeth before he grabbed two of the monster's tentacles, readied one foot against the wall and began to pull until he forcibly separated the top half of the monster from the bottom in a burst of black blood.

"AAAAAAAAA-" Aida screamed in terror as blood splattered nearby her, "What the hell man?!"

"What?" Roko asked as he tossed his half of the monster onto the ground behind him.

"What did you do?!"

"Kill a monster."

"Did it have to be so gruesome?!"

"What did you want me to do?" Roko scoffed as he began rummaging around in the coffin.

"I don't know..." Aida shivered, "I think my jaw's a bit sore now."

"This too shall pass." Roko picked up a dusty handaxe out of the coffin. It was small, minuscule even. Practically a toy from how small the handle and blade was. But it was sharp.

"Found an axe for you," Roko said as he passed the handaxe over to Aida.

"Oh ha ha." Aida said sarcastically as she took the miniaxe from Roko, "This is a ceremonial axe. I've had to help make them a few times."

"Should still work though."

"For a few swings at least, sure." Aida sighed, "I don't know if anybody was buried with an actual working weapon."

"We'll just have to make do." Roko sighed as he picked up wooden mask from inside the coffin, "Think we can use this?"

"I'm not the one with the crazy ideas." Aida sighed as she looked over the mask, "Looks like a warrior mask. Never seen this design though."

"That doesn't really matter does it?" Roko said as he strolled over to another coffin and shoved the lid off that as well.

"You're really getting into this looting business aren't you?" Aida frowned.

"Just doing what I have to." Roko said as he dodged another monster attacking him from inside the coffin, "Though I hope you're not too attached to anything here."

"Why?" Aida asked, suspicious.

"Because." Roko replied as he stomped the monster's face into the ground and shattered its teeth, "Without any other way of getting rid of all this, we're going to need to set everything on fire."

"On fire?!" Aida cried.

"Yeah." Roko said as he pulled out another axe from inside the new coffin, "Preferably, I'd like to set it to explode."

"Explode?!"

"You got a problem with that?"

"Well...on a personal level, no."

"I'm glad you're so understanding."

"Part of me wants to make sure there is some remnant of my tribe left but...I know there's nothing left of my clan anyway. No point in preserving things if they're being used by those monsters."

"...You're the last of your tribe now." Roko replied as he continued to scrounge around the coffin, "Whenever or not your tribe ends here now depends entirely on you. What you leave behind, what you take with you. What your tribe means, that all depends on you. But you're not obligated to tend to these graves."

Aida looked down at the mask. Roko wasn't sure if he alleviated her worries any or if he just added more burden to the young girl's mind but given what he's seen of the small child, he wasn't particularly worried.

"Well...the future won't come if we can't break through today." Roko found another hand axe and turned to the pillar, "So let's get to dismantling this location."

Roko slid his hand axe in between the folds of the pillar and began prying them apart with a squicky, squelching noise. For the tendrils that seemed too deeply set, he cut apart a section and tossed them aside as he continued to work towards the center. Aida sat on the ground, watching him with mild distaste.

"Anything I can do?" Aida asked.

"You're a bit too short to be handling these pillars. Just keep an eye out for any monsters that might show up."

"I feel like if there were more monsters here, they would have showed up already." Aida sighed, "...But this place is strangely empty. There are normally millions of these."

"My guess is that all the bio material, aka corpses, here have been processed and all the monsters have left already. Only a few remain to keep watch over things but these monsters are much less of a threat when there's only one or two of them at a time."

"Even I could handle one or two of them." Aida scoffed, "Funny how these things are so weak when they're alone."

"That's why there's thousands of them." Roko replied, "They're not that much of a danger until you're overwhelmed."

"...If only we could trap them into small groups and eliminate them that way."

"That won't always be possible." Roko sighed, "If only we responded sooner."

"...Well...my dad probably wouldn't have accepted your help anyway..."

"…"

Roko pulled apart the last tentacle to finally look into the cavity inside. The pillar was completely empty with neither a book or corpse inside.

"Clear." Roko reported, "No body and no book."

"So we wasted our time." Aida sighed as she got up and dusted herself off, "At least we got some weapons."

"We're not done yet." Roko said as he slipped his axe away, "We need to destroy this pillar."

"And how do we do that?" Aida frowned.

"Hand me the torch."

Roko took the torch from Aida and pushed it up against the tentacles. The tendrils recoiled a little but otherwise didn't react too strongly against the flame. The fire didn't spread, rather, Roko noticed the flame was a bit smaller than before.

"This tomb..." Roko looked around, "It's pretty moist isn't it?"

"I guess." Aida nodded, "Probably because of all these tentacle...things everywhere."

"Well, we need to destroy this pillar." Roko scowled, "Hand me that mask."

"Like I said, how do we do that?" Aida sighed as she handed the mask over as well.

Roko placed the torch in the crevice and put the mask right next to the flame. Hopefully the flame would start spreading onto the mask but it probably wouldn't be able to completely immolate the pillar.

"We could grab some grass or leaves." Aida suggested.

"We're trying to destroy this thing, not build a bonfire."

"We can do both."

"I'd like to track down this book in a timely manner." Roko sighed as he looked around.

Looking through the thick shadows, Roko spotted a jar with some sort of white substance in it placed near one of the coffins. Roko walked up to it and picked it up, the substance inside shifting like powder or sand.

"What's this?"

"Hm?" Aida looked up at the jar as well, "What is this? Never seen this before."

"Is it for embalming or something?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just a kid."

"...Is it flammable?"

"Like I said, I don't-"

Roko threw the jar at the flame inside the pillar.

Somewhere in the Paramnesia Wildwoods, near the ruins of a once prosperous village, a giant explosion breached the thick foliage of the trees.