Relax a Little

Deep within the ravine, through lengthy passageways and past raging storms of snow, Emile's cohort stood next to one another. Each of their arms were crossed in front of their chest, their expressions looked lost, and their gaze was all cast on a single structure.

"What if we just destroy the tree?" Willow suggested.

"Can we destroy the tree?" Emile asked, "Last time you failed even damaging the roots."

"But I got them to flee, didn't I?"

"We don't want them to flee —" Emile replied, shaking his head, "we want the researchers to take a look at it when we get back."

"Do you have any ideas, Roy?" Willow asked, having been shot down by Spright.

"Kill it in one blow," Roy said.

"Right —" Emile slapped his hands against his cheeks and pulled down, "why didn't I think of that?"

"Stop bullying him," Willow interrupted.

"I'm not bullying," Emile shot back, "isn't the goal in every fight to kill it in one blow? That part is obvious, we're trying to figure out 'how' to kill it at all, let alone in one blow."

"You know the only realistic option we have is to let me fight it, how long are you going to delay it?" Willow stated.

"If you —"

"If I get sick you're afraid you won't be able to heal me —" Willow finished Emile's sentence, "I understand your concern, but we can't afford to be this hesitant before every fight."

Emile narrowed his eyes and looked at Willow. He was upset.

Upset that she was right. He had known from the start that Willow was going to have to fight on everyone's behalf, which had been inevitable from the moment she was assigned to protect Emile.

Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, Willow was more than strong enough to fight against the vast majority of opponents and Emile was more than capable of healing the vast majority of wounds.

The situation that happened with Blood was different and because it was different he was worried what would happen to Willow if he couldn't heal her.

For example, how would King Ulmor react when one of his most prized teammates was bedridden and on death's door?

Emile didn't wanna imagine.

"If it makes you feel any better, the spider creature is extremely weakened." Roy suddenly added.

"What?" Willow asked.

"What makes you say that?" Emile blurted.

"I can see it —" the boy responded, "it's the upgrade I received when I transcended. I can vaguely see its remaining vitality and it's barely alive as it is."

"Why don't you say these —" Emile asked.

"That's great!" But Willow cut him off, "So I can fight it now, right?"

Emile looked at Willow.

Willow met his gaze.

For more than a few moments the two stared into each other's eyes. Willow's eyes were filled with hope and expectation, a burning desire to fight the creature before them.

Emile's eyes, however, were dull. Annoyed at the situation, frustrated that Roy keeps everything to himself until the last possible second, and the way Willow was looking at him was even more irritating.

"Go —" Emile said, "but if you get hurt I'm gonna laugh."

"Seeing your smile makes it all worth it," Willow winked at Emile and began walking towards the lone tree.

"And you!" Emile turned to face Roy, "You could have said that at the start!"

"You didn't ask."

"…"

***

"Are you here to kill me?" Blood asked through clenched teeth.

"Hmm…" The voice once again entered a deep contemplation, "no, I don't think so."

First, Blood released a heavy sigh of relief, but his body tightened again when he heard the voice say 'I think.'

"So then what are you here for?" Blood asked instead.

"Hmm… I'm not really sure."

'He's toying with me!' Blood's heart ached.

Luckily, the unknown voice continued:

"Well, I saw you and your friends running through this canyon and wondered where you were going and then your friends left you here so I thought you might get lonely."

Listening to the voice bounce around the canyon, Blood couldn't get a read on where its owner was at all, but listening to the words themselves, it didn't seem like this voice was hostile.

After calming his nerves, Blood forced his foot to take a step. His foot curved right, he waited, and then he moved his other foot.

Slowly, Blood turned around step by step. Now facing the rest of the canyon, Blood's eyes rapidly shot around every nook and cranny.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything. He couldn't find any traces of another person such as left behind tracks let alone a person themselves.

At first he thought turning around to see his mysterious talker was a good idea, but after seeing nobody he felt the potential danger of the situation sky rocket.

'Why is he hiding?' Blood thought.

"You're so on edge —" the voice returned, "relax a little."

A helpless smile crept up on Blood's face, "It's hard to relax when you're talking to the breeze —" Blood commented, "it'd be nice to talk face to face."

"Hmm…" the voice contemplated some more, "Master said never to reveal yourself… but Master's also been asleep for a long time… and technically she didn't tell me she told my ancestors…"

Suddenly a rock dropped from the canyon wall. Blood's eyes lasered across the canyon and locked onto the rock.

Realizing it was only a rock, he traced the rocks fall up the canyon wall and narrowed his eyes on a dark mound resting at the top of the canyon.

The dark mound twitched and began expanding. The dark mound stood up, revealing a dark cloaked figure.

The figure stepped his foot off the edge of the canyon and immediately plummeted down the wall. Before slamming into the ground a gust of wind erupted past Blood, toiling his clothes and tangling his hair.

The massive gust of wind crashed into the cloaked figure's body and elevated him up, gliding him safely to the surface.

The figure landed some distance away from Blood and turned his gaze at the dark prince. He raised his paws into the air and grabbed the hood of his cloak.

'Wait…' Blood noticed it.

'Paws?'