Where is Veral in Baur's Reach?

Deliver the backpack to the Moki in the Wellspring interior to get a Herb Pouch. In Baur's Reach, you'll find a woolly creature named Veral. He's next next to a giant pot not too far into the start of the area . Give him the herbs for soup.

How long is Ori and the Will of the Wisps?

When focusing on the main objectives, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is about 12 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 18 Hours to obtain 100% completion.

How to unfreeze baur's reach?

Baur's Reach Keystone Gate Go left and drop to the ground. Wait for the fiery projectile from the pot to come down and when it's close, Bash it to redirect it into the blue glowing thing to your left. This will light up the area. Now, all of the ice has been unfrozen and a new layer of water is beneath you.

Who do I give the soup to Ori?

Go to the Moki in Baur's Reach and give them the Spicy Soup. They'll give you a Comfy Hat. Give this Comfy Hat to the Moki west of Grom in The Wellspring Glades. They'll give you a Lantern.

How to get the flap ability in Ori?

Flap Granted By. Helping Ku in the Silent Woods. Location. Silent Woods. Description. Blow objects away with a gust of wind. Game. Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

How to complete family reunion ori?

Grab the spirit light container on the right and use this spirit well to transport to the Wellspring Glades. We're going to talk to the Family Reunion Moki. Doing so will complete the Family Reunion side quest. Head inside the Moki's house to find a large spirit light container .

How to melt baur's reach?

Since you will return in order to take the path below, you can go back to the entrance of Baur's Reach and go to the area at the northwest of the tree where you found the frozen lake and the hive of Skeetos, once there climb the frozen waterfall and throw a fireball at the stone lantern , the ice will melt, now grab the ...

How do you wake up the bear in Ori?

When Ori attempts to obtain the Memory of the Forest, they find Baur in a deep slumber blocking the entrance to Baur's Reach. Using Kuro's Feather , Ori manages to wake the giant bear, granting Ori access to the Reach.

Will of the Wisps - Chapter 7 - will_of_the

Chapter Text

Immersive Music for Reading

———

The Howler had made his appearance known—his calling encasing the valley with ill-intent with what would happen next. Slowly, Howl's chin lowered from the sky, growling menacingly in his throat and eyeing his prey, not waiting a single second for his meals, too hungry to think, bringing his hind legs forward beneath him and leaping down toward them—smoke and green sparks trailing in his wake, his right paw prepared to swing down on all of them and cause a stir, mouth open mid-roar to swallow them all.

Jīnsè hadn't taken the chance to wait—her expression morphing from shock at the sudden move to then her ears rearing back as her mouth contorted into a snarl, baring fangs as her tattoos came alight once more, residing a steady gold-white pulse as she cried out as a single blink of her eyes turned them jet-silver with no pupils, "Oh, no you don't!"

Getting down low to her knees and using her hands as a balance to the left side of her, satchel swinging around her, she would press her right bottom paw firmly into the Earth—and with a swift grunt, swiped her paw upward in a high kick, sweeping up a multitude of dust, pebbles, and dirt that were swift to hit Howl in the face like a tidal wave. Jīnsè's bloodied knees ached from the movement, but she didn't complain, besides the slight wince in her features. The wolf-monster hadn't a chance to process what had smacked him mid-jump, but then, those small fickle matters and objects Jīnsè had sent to his face began to glow a golden light, connecting with Howl's fur and eyes. When Howl had planted himself right in front of the six-party group, the ground shaking from his movement as everyone watched with the intent of either fighting or retreating, Howl had taken a tumble onto his left side, and for good reason. In a tirade of unbeknownst proportions, Jīnsè's little trick had come to work—the pebbles went off in a golden mini explosion rocketing around the wolf-monster's features, the gold smoke dissipating but getting into his eyes and sinking into his nose glands. A blood-curdling mournful wail escaped Howl's throat—his eyes, once green, suddenly flashed gold, white, and blue in such fast succession it was difficult to pinpoint. Howl kicked up dirt, and the ground crushed beneath him from his hard, misshapen landing, scrambling to stand up again, paws struggling. His head was the first to raise—his snout snapping this way and that as his hide flowed in his wake, ignoring the six-party group as he now seemed unfamiliar with his surroundings, completely lost and blinded as tears of pain ran down his face, using his right paw to swipe at his eyes that stung to the high Heavens. Howl was whimpering from how much his vision hurt, as a million suns flashed into his eyes, reduced to a puppy, even going so far as to put his face into the grass and try and rub it out any way he could, tail whipping around behind him.

"Aww! I wanted to do something like that!" Wukong pouted sassily—his lower lip jutting out for a moment as he stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest, orange tail flickering in annoyance, unmoved from the tantrum Howl was going through as sadness seemed to push his brows together.

While Howl was busy dealing with himself temporarily being stunned, Macaque had felt his heart jog in his throat—practically all of them had—when Howl had taken such a ferocious step toward all of them. He, in particular, had shot an irritated look toward the Monkey King but didn't comment on it, shaking his head and rolling his eyes to himself as his thoughts echoed dismissively, 'This guy...'

While the White Cat had swiftly pushed herself to stand again with the help of her hands and knees, stance low as her tail wagged angrily behind her, satisfied to see she had made the right call on that matter, Mei had let out a disbelieved laugh with an enamored grin—her once steady stance in holding her Dragon Sword in her grip lessening as the blade pointed downward, co*cking a brow, fascinated by what she had just seen, or rather what the entire group had just witnessed in such a form of magic as she looked to the goddess in awe, sparkles in her eyes. "Woah-hoh-hoh!"

Even MK, who had to lower his staff as he had also been prepared to crack some skulls, had looked on at the sudden predicament before all of them with Howl and his shrieks of pain darting through the air—causing him to wince from the pain against his eardrums and had felt his eyes bulge from such a simple but effective move—looking to Jīnsè and immediately commenting with a light sweat drop, "Can you, like, remind me to not get on your bad side?"

Jīnsè shifted her silver orbs to MK, pupils stark thin, but soon her expression relaxed, pupils blowing out a bit. She gave him a small, crooked smile in return with a quirked brow, a chuckle ringing through her nostrils as reassurance but also flattery from his respect of this ability he witnessed from her—letting him know in a single glance he would hardly make her angry enough to provoke something like this from her. She was incredibly slow to do it. But all good things had to end swiftly, the fire demon being the one to do so.

"Can you two numbskulls take a goddamn hint—" Red Son just had about enough of this intermediary talking, his fiery hair turning into licking flames from annoyance as a visible blood vessel pulsed against his head, and perhaps a hint of urgency to his voice, before he was swift to grasp both Mei and MK under their elbows—half-way dragging them from their spots in the opposite direction of Howl to the East, turning on his heel, as their weapons were plowing into the dirt and grass, coughing up dust as the fire demon, practically chucked both of them over his head, their bodies thrown like rag dolls as they went lopsided into the air, backpacks flailing, their expressions blank out of humor. "—AND GET MOVING?!"

There was no time for idle chatter. Macaque, Wukong, and Jīnsè turned themselves around at the last second to witness the fire demon taking off to the East with MK and Mei landing on their faces, rolling on their sides, but pushing themselves up to start sprinting with the help of their weapons—not giving them the time of day. This was a survival situation. Fighting wasn't in the cards today. If they wanted to make their escape with no consequence of almost being eaten, they needed to leave—NOW.

The Monkey King knew this best—he knew fights he had to run away from in the past, sometimes not of his own volition. He switched his red orbs over his left shoulder to glance with hesitance toward the wolf-like monster, Howl, whom he was tempted to destroy, but finding this tight cave space was unfair in terms of battle. Howl, however, was still struggling with his vision, letting out vehement roars that made Wukong, including the dark monkey and white feline, wince from how friggin' loud he was, which suggested that when Howl's vision came back, he was going to kill whoever was first to be snatched into his claws. His mouth opened to the sky—his eyes still flashing those three colors of blue, white, and gold as he swiped and rubbed weakly at his face and eyes with his right grey paw, face stained with wetness.

'I can't risk it,' Wukong's mind uttered, his upper brow beading with sweat, mouth slightly parted, before turning his red eyes with concern onto Macaque and Jīnsè, who were peering up from Howl and his disheveled apparatus, before shifting their gazes onto him—the White Cat holding a hardness that made her gaze stern but holding a sense of calm for him to come with, Macaque's equally so but more severe to see what he would do, his eyes narrowed with suspicion but a faint hint of hopefulness that Wukong just might change his mind. Play the hero, like he usually did, and leave them all behind. 'Not for them.' Finally, Wukong would give a nod, his expression molding from wariness to confidence and strength—brows furrowed as he set his stance low.

"No time to wait! Let's go!" Wukong declared, understanding Red Son's worry as he snapped himself out of the conversation to a more focused appearance—turning on his right heel like a ballerina and, with a burst of wind in his wake, took off to trail after the fire demon and two other mortals, hopping over the slight bump in the road with his red scarf and quail feathers wagging after him as his figure the smaller he became in the distance.

For once, Wukong took the smart route to turn tail and bail. Macaque and the White Cat, as Wukong had ditched, locked gazes with one another, neither of them uttering a word but completely understanding their intent, giving but a single nod to one another—with Jīnsè immediately following in hot pursuit, swiftly hunkering herself down to turn around on her right leg, despite how much her knees groaned in protest from their reddened state, growling in her throat to the dark monkey with encouragement, "Come on!," getting down on all fours to provide her the best source of speed without wasting mana, and in a burst of air with gold flowing in her wake was gone like a Cheetah on the prowl.

Flying wouldn't do her good—she didn't want to risk bonking her head because of how close the tree line was pressed together, being careful not to trip over her satchel.

Macaque hadn't taken the chance either—doing much of the same as Jīnsè as he, with a burst of speed and strength, when he twisted his upper body around, let out a yell as he had vanished from the spot he had once stood, black fur whipping and following after the goddess as he waved her on to go and not wait for him. His figure would be the last to catch up with the six-party group alongside the White Cat. He frankly didn't care if anyone waited for him—he had his tricks up his sleeve to aid him in need if anything went awry in the heat of the moment. The second Macaque had disappeared from where he stood, a large five-fingered paw slammed into the ground where he had been—leaving an imprint and crack in the dirt and grass from a furious wolf who was achingly hungry. Howl's vision slowly began returning to him—sniffing, growling, and blinking furiously away the light show from his aching eyes, a prominent headache dully thudding against his skull. The barrage of blindness dissipated with each teary-eyed blink as he pointed his snout downward, regaining his senses to see that his six appeasing-looking food platters had disappeared. Howl's expression, if you can even call it that, turned into incredulousness—before his scent, no longer filled with the sensation of numbness, caught the smell he had once lost. His heated, fiery green orbs snapped up to the East, catching on that he had been duped. Howl's veins coursed with fury—his hide standing on end, the right corner of his mouth twitching as his mouth dipped into a terrible glower, snarling. Howl opened his mouth, lurching forward with arms spread, and let out a pissed-off behemoth-sized roar that caused the wind to take some trees by the leaves and whip them.

The whole group, now as one, were hauling ass to get out of there, sprinting East as Howl's roar echoed a menacing tone behind them as a steep rock blocked their path that each one individually clambered over with enough speed and panic without causing a fuss. Red Son led the charge and guided the lot of them forward—his breathing heavy but otherwise focused with head leaning forward and eyes down as he threw himself up and over the steep behemoth and rolled onto his shoulder before popping up again to continue his sprint. MK and Mei were hot riding his heels as they were flinging like acrobats over one another—using the boulder they came across as leverage to fling themselves forward, and with Wukong making sure to stay behind in case one of them fell as he did the same—not risking summoning a nimbus cloud for him to ride, as the thick treeline was not something he wanted to risk slamming into. Macaque and Jīnsè rode the back, with the White Cat shifting to stand on two legs rather than four as she was in safe proximity with her group to no longer play catch-up, using her Chi to propel herself upward in a spring-like boost, the bottoms of her paws becoming golden as magic-inlet circles with twisting designs appeared. At the same time, she let out a grunt—jumping and making it with ease as gold energy trailed in her wake to clear the rock and follow her team. The dark monkey occasionally glanced over his shoulders to see if they were being followed and if they needed another way out; using his strength and with the help of his claws, clambering up the side of the rock like a spider monkey before flipping himself up and over to stand back onto his feet and with a gust of air from his lungs raced to catch up with the six-party group.

The vehement screech from Howl had all heads whipping toward the source behind them, as a shadow was lumbering through the woods at breakneck speed, Howl's figure making quick time to race after the six-party group with his prominent figure pummeling the rock away as he squeezed through the small opening with a single ram of his snout, the rock all but heaving way for Howl and rolling out of his way down the hillside to the North that the six-party group has overcome while he charged.

Mei let out a squeak and a wide-eyed look, her dark eyes bulging from her head as she shouted at the sound of four paws and legs racing to them, causing the Earth to shake as she pointed her right hand's index finger to Howl, dragging her sword in her left, almost damn-near tripping over a slight dip in the ground since she wasn't looking forward, "Crazy wolf gaining!"

MK let out a girlish scream when he had turned his head over his left shoulder to see Howl take two bounding leaps towards them, closing the gap in milliseconds—swiping with his right paw in a dramatic angle down upon them as he sliced through the air with his claws, barely catching them as Macaque's scarf that had trailed behind him had taken the brute force of that dangerous hit, crying out, "Macaque! Watch out!"

The wolf-monster's claws were like butter—slicing through Macaque's scarf with ease and leaving the end of it worse than what it once was as the dark monkey demon had felt the slight snag, his head briefly yanking back, his windpipe cut off, as he let out a loud, wheezing yelp of, "sh*t!," his golden orbs wide as saucers. He was lucky his backpack hadn't been yoinked. He threw his upper body forcefully forward with his core muscles. He managed to escape death (again) by slipping himself out of his scarf as it went up and over his head in one swoop, leaving behind his clothing and leaving him rather naked without it, stumbling over himself and sprinting again. A perplexed Howl, standing in place with wide, green eyes and perked-up ears from a surprise take, was now trying to shake the maroon-red cloth off of his claws, whipping his wrist, as the maroon cloth had snagged deep into his paw as he waved it around maddeningly to try and get it off, now frustrated. This had bought the six-party group some time to surge ahead.

"Well—" Macaque announced, catching sight over his left shoulder of Howl's intensity with a nervous grin, shifting his attention then down to Jīnsè to the left of him as she kept herself low to the ground—trampling over the Earth with grace and ease before she peered up to him with curiousness, ears raised from her lower station as the dark monkey then swiftly jabbed his right hand's thumb over his shoulder, "—you sure as Hell pissed him off!"

Jīnsè would glance over her left shoulder mid-run in the middle of the air out of instinct, despite her roundabout vision, to see what Macaque meant, panting lightly under her breath as her thin pupils pinned onto the form of Howl... who was now biting into the cloth on his paw with his canine teeth and with one swift motion and a roll of his neck ripped the scarf off of his paw, tearing it in half, causing the now crumpled scarf to fall to the ground in a heap of string and mesh before he lifted his head and glared menacingly with a look of promised death in his green orbs and bared teeth. Jīnsè could feel the white fur on her neck rise from Howl's non-verbal death threat, her pupils blowing a bit from that notion.

While she would have made a comment on the fact and would agree that she had another mortal enemy on her list (the entire group probably all did at this point, considering how hangry Howl was at them), she focused on the fact that their survival was more important, breathing out to the dark monkey despite the helpless shake of her head, "Our safety traversing Niwen is paramount! We must put as much distance as possible between us and that wolf!"

Jīnsè didn't know Howl's name, let alone what he was, even if she called him a "wolf" as she panted. Sure, he had the physique of a wolf, but the entrails of Decay-like smoke trailed from his hide were a sign that something had happened to him—something that had almost made him become one with that stuff. It was nearly as if Howl had become a more enhanced version of a powerful animal meant to hunt in packs. He was huge. Wukong, Jīnsè assumed, would have never run into anything like this before (despite having had a Kaiju-like battle with the Demon Bull King at one point in his journey westward in the past). It didn't make sense. It was impossible. Decay was the killer of the Earth and everything with it. So, how could it just meld with something living without killing it?

"That's better said than done!" MK cried from up front next to Mei and behind Red Son in total disarray—his eyes as wide as plates as he looked about just done and over it, waving Wukong's all-you-can-wield red and gold cudgel around his head dramatically as he gripped his brown hair with his free hand and tugged at it, almost as if trying to convince himself this was all a dream and that he wasn't thinking about this, exclaiming and rambling off names, "I mean— okay! It's not like we haven't dealt with DBK (Demon Bull King), the Spider Queen, or the Lady Bone Demon! But why must we deal with a super freaky wolf that wants to eat us?!"

MK had a reason to vent, as he and many others had gone through some heavy and brutal trials and tribulations throughout the past year-ish and some when it came to psychological and physical battles. Some of those names were familiar to many of them, namely that of Wukong, Macaque, Red Son, and Mei, all of them... except for Jīnsè, who seemed slightly lost on this inside information she knew very little about as she co*cked her head to the side, a wrinkle of confusion making her brows come together in concern. She was familiar with the name of the Demon Bull King, as Nezha—a good friend and someone who was like another older brother to her (something that if anyone were willing to ask, she would happily oblige in explaining)—had sliced off the Demon Bull King's head a couple of times during an intense battle that involved Wukong at one point, only for the demon to regrow his head, but the latter two? It didn't register or ring a bell with Jīnsè. It would likely be something she would inquire about later, as she could only look at MK from where she was running with vague curiosity. At the same time, everyone else didn't have much of a reaction, save for Red Son, who looked like he was less annoyed than before and more on a matter of irritation but also perplexion on the fact that Howl—whatever that thing was—had considered them all a worthy opponent.

"A bigger body means a bigger stomach," Red Son replied with a slight sweat drop, grimacing and clenching his teeth, locking his jaw as he looked over his right-most shoulder to see Howl having ditched the cloth that he had stolen from Macaque and was now making leeway back toward the six-party group with all four paws hitting the ground and running.

The fire demon snarled, not toward his team but at the wolf-like monster as he still felt that hint lick of fury toward Howl for wanting to gobble him up first, “And unfortunately, it saw us as an opportunity worthy of giving it a good chase followed by hors d'oeuvres."

Red Son was pretty damn sure Howl was getting high off of this despite how angry he looked. The Moki probably hadn't given Howl this big of a thrill in a while, considering how he had practically expected the fire demon to sit there and take it without moving an inch. Suddenly, the ground that the six-party group had once been walking on that was once grass and marsh plains had transferred to a rickety old bridge that had more than likely been built by the Moki and was soaked from the earlier rain that had battered Niwen earlier—old vines and twine tying it together, barely even holding it together, as the six-party team rushed across the wet wood planks. Jīnsè had unsheathed the claws on her paws to keep herself steady. At the same time, Macaque, Red Son, and Wukong were able to adjust accordingly and keep their footsteps light with little weight, with toe first instead of heel first and bodies leaning forward to keep from slipping, while Mei and MK could visibly be seen to be struggling up front, swaying out their arms to their sides anxiously as they let out little whoops from the way their bodies were meandering back and forth with uncertainty across slick wood. The wooden bridge swayed eerily left and right from the weight of the six bodies, all trampling across at once, a steep drop below awaiting the group of at least fifteen feet. But Howl had once again caught up to them in leaps and bounds, trekking after the six people he had decided were more suited to slice to pieces than eat in one gulp as when he closed in on the bridge. He landed right in front of where the wood connected to the edge of the grassy plains. He brought down his right paw—slamming it through the bridge as the wood shattered and crumpled from his strength. Howl leaned over the edge of the small hill the bridge once connected to—snarling and growling as saliva dribbled and swam from his mouth in hunger.

The scaffolding of the bridge creaked and groaned in protest from the unstable balance suddenly lost—before the whole thing suddenly gave from where everyone was running, near the end of the bridge, anyway, where grassy pasture was only ten feet away from them in height, wood splintering at the seams and falling apart from weakness and age as yelps and shouts of panic erupted from almost everyone, some grunts of surprise, with Wukong being the one to shout at the top of his lungs as it was inevitable that all of them would have to make a forced landing, "HANG ON!"

The scaffolding below the six-party group completely fell, crumpling to the ground in spurts of brittle wood bits and dust, as the group took it upon themselves to adapt to this unlikely scenario—with unlikely wriggling arms and legs locking down into place. Mei, Red Son, and MK took into a kneeling pose when they landed before getting back up to run with a bounce from their legs, all of them sticking close, not taking another chance to look behind them as the sounds of hearts rang in eardrums and adrenaline was pumping. Mei almost tripped over a stray piece of wood that had been in her line of sight, her sword dragging by her in her grasp, her feet scrambling over one another like a cartoon character as she let out sounds of protest and panic, screaming, "GAH! No!" before righting herself just in the nick of time with the help of MK coincidentally nudging her left shoulder with the help of his staff he was carrying with him when he had passed by her. Jīnsè had allowed her upper body to fall forward, considering the height, going into a falling somersault roll before immediately coming to a stand again, using the momentum to propel her forward to stand and run along with the rest of the group as she let out a breath of relief from her pink nose from her quick thinking. Macaque and Wukong had briefly fallen on both their hands and knees next to one another. Still, they used this to grip the grass beneath them to help throw themselves up to stand and continue sprinting alongside their group—much like twins. They both had stress pierced into their brows and sweat beading their cheeks, with the dark monkey being the one to glance over his shoulder again to see how they were doing in terms of gaining distance from Howl, his figure meshing next to the White Cat's again as his breathing was heavy and low.

Macaque had let out a loud shout of shock, his golden orbs widening with a deep frown as he watched Howl take one bounding leap with a push of his back legs from the hillside where the old bridge had once been he had broken to smithereens. The wolf was soaring through the air in slow motion, his jaw snapping open and shut to try at least get one of the six members, who were all gung-ho sprinting to get away from him as he landed with a hard "BOOM!" right behind the group, not crushing the ground but certainly causing a shockwave in the ground that made whoops sound off from Wukong and MK in excitement and nearly made all of them stumble but not fall.

Heads no longer turned over their shoulders, realizing looking over one's shoulder would be considered a death wish. Still, Macaque had almost again been the benefactor of being the Howler's next meal as the wolf monster's head dived downward in an arch as snapping jaws sounded off—One! Two! Three!—all in succession next to one another as the poor shadow demon was trying his damndest from not getting his tail chopped off, evading by having to shift his sprinting directions left and then a hard right as his body crept low to the ground, his head nearly coming off when Howl had tried shutting his jaw on him.

At the same time, Macaque shouted with vehemence and rage toward Howl as he bared his sharp canines and purple funneled from his eyes, "LAY OFF!"

"GRA-A-A-A-AH!" Howl would respond in a screeching cry and roar to the utter disbelief of Macaque, his muzzle shrugged in frustration with anger glittering in his green orbs, clearly not having anticipated that his meals were going to expect and play tricks on him, the Decay trailing from his hide in the air becoming thicker and murkier from his change of emotions.

However, the six-party group had found themselves coming upon another problem in the form of traversing up another mossy rock wall, this time held in place by old wooden stakes in the back to make it stay put that would get them through a small aperture and, hopefully, away from Howl. This time, unlike the previous rock they crossed, the wall for this one was flat, meaning it was a matter of scrambling to get up before they became chowder for the hungry wolf closing in fast behind them. There was no way to get around this, only leading into deep underbrush and roots that none of them could get through, meaning going up and over was the only option in the books.

Panting heavily, the group all realized quickly the situation at hand as they closed in on the rock wall—with MK and Mei both sweating bullets as they found anxiousness to cling in their hearts as the forefront of their minds wondered how they were going to attempt to scramble up it remotely. Both friends spared a glance at one another, breathing fast and hard as the wall was slowly closing in. Both mortals silently forgot they had the arsenal to overcome the barrier in a moment of blind panic as the adrenaline rush kicked in. However, Red Son, Macaque, and Wukong seemed dead set on crossing the threshold—determination honing on their features, brows low and set, and arms swinging as they mentally prepared themselves on the matter, with the thundering footing of Howl closing in, his shadow eerily looming behind them. A menacing wolfish smirk crossed his mouth, which didn't help in ceasing the overwhelming feeling of fear for the mortals of the group in the prospect of being eaten.

Jīnsè broke the madness of panic as she screamed with such power it shocked them out of it; she bellowed at the top of her lungs from the back of the group as her orbs honed in on the rock wall—ears pinned back against her head, pupils thinned and body arched and prepared to use her power to boost up the wall as her tattoos were flickering on and off like mad, Chi-like gold lightning zipping and zapping around her body rapidly like a snake, "DON'T STOP! CLIMB!"

Wukong and Macaque, the Monkey King in front and the shadow demon to her left glanced at her with surprise from how strong her voice ricocheted. Nobody dared even question that logic, shaking Mei and MK out of it and both seeing in an instant what they had to do—with the brown-haired red-banded mortal swiftly taking Monkey King's staff in his grasp, determination instead of fear clouding his features, shoving one of the brass ended sides into the ground and reciting a sutra lowly beneath his breath, using the advantage of this extra appendage-like weapon as the cudgel, in a burst of speed suddenly elongated—stretching from the forest floor upward into the sky, carrying MK with it as he clutched the staff with all of his strength in his hands and reached the top of the rock wall in a blink of an eye. Wukong's prodigy swiftly disembarked off of his staff, with MK muttering a different mantra in a low undertone as the cudgel was swift to obey him, his eyes briefly flickering into a golden color before the staff shrunk in height, ending up being the perfect size in the palm of his hand. MK would take off, once more, East. Mei followed her friend's example, her teeth gritting together with boldness, her body dipped into a crouch as green-like sparks and lightning erupted around her form, before pushing herself into a jump, fists curled by her sides as she thrust her Dragon Sword toward the sky, letting out a yell before in a flash of green light that danced to and fro like a dragon spinning in the air, she zipped upward and over the rock wall in a flash, disengaging her powers at the top. Her dragon abilities faded; Mei's figure had green-like smoke swelling from her figure from the energy she used, but she emerged from it to sprint after MK, sword swinging by her side.

Red Son would come next—his figure swelling as he approached like a blazing wildfire as his hair whipped around his head like a candle, eyes ablaze in red, yellow, and white, smoke and flame licking around his mouth and from the edges of his red trench coat and bottoms of his boots. With a flurry of heat and roaring sparks from the flames that twisted and swirled, he was able to use the momentum of this tornado of fire around him to project him upwards—using a single leap to reach the top of the rock wall with a shout and a grimaced expression, but not so much complaining about the hard landing he took. Red Son let out a breath of air he had been holding as his feet gracefully touched the ground, the red wake of fire dissipating from his figure as he went after Mei and MK in hot pursuit. Macaque, Jīnsè, and Wukong went all at once, as well. Wukong's whole figure used little energy to project himself from the ground in a single leap, the bottoms of his cloud-walking boots glittering a golden color for but a brief second as he approached the rock wall and with a single yell, was there in a moment and gone the next in a spritz of colors—his figure just barely appearing over the top of the rock wall with his orange tail disappearing over the horizon line.

Jīnsè followed suit, along with Macaque, both at the same time taking the opportunity to leap with Howl's shadow conforming behind them—risking the leap upward with Jīnsè crouching before gold and silver followed in her wake as she jumped upward with a grunt, her mouth curled in a scowl, her power boosting her to the top with hardly anything to spare. The shadow demon, in turn, used his strength with the manipulation of darkness to get himself up to speed, and similar to Wukong, used the same ability he had done—only this time of black mana—as his figure outlined itself in a purple-ish smokey glow, the bottoms of his black boots projecting the same energy, using it to project himself upward in the same manner. The White Cat and shadow demon felt air gust beneath them. Both of them had looked, even if the goddess didn't necessarily need to, as air whipped around their figures in shock to reveal the outline of Howl—having dived toward the six-party group in a last-ditch effort to try and swallow them whole, but, ultimately, failing, as the wolf-like monster in his attempt to catch up had ended with his snout running face first into the stone wall. The Howler had stars in his green eyes from having knocked his head against the rock—shaking his black snout as he stumbled back on all fours shakily from the wall and let out a sharp exhale of pain as he squinted his eyes shut, blackness dribbling from his nose and swiping his right paw across it in an attempt to soothe the pain, clearly disgruntled but not down for the count.

In the meantime, Jīnsè and Macaque had come to stand at the top of the rock wall, with the energy surrounding them dissipating in the blink of an eye. The gold-like Chi faded, and the purple zapped off as the two beings immediately sprinted toward the rest of the group to play the game of catch-up—arms and legs moving in opposite tandem from their heights. Both feline and monkey did not give the time of day to comment that the wolf-monster would have a brutal shiner on his mouth from the rough encounter. However, it would have been funny—with Jīnsè focusing on getting her game face on and seeing to it putting distance with Howl, while the Six-Eared Macaque smirked at the fact that the wolf had gotten his just desserts. It was a little payback from having his scarf taken away from him (the scarf was a part of him and his persona).

To the left of the entire six-party group to the North were huge, shadowed infrastructures of rocks that were covered in moss, only seeming to grow from six to twelve feet, jutting out here and there from long lanky grass, along with a stone-like fire pit like the previous one they had encountered along with a stone hand-built pathway made from rocks trailing from this pit and having aged overtime with how worn the stones were, including moss growing on top of it also. The fire pit was smaller, however, about the same height as the Monkey King in comparison, with abstract carvings making the pit be a weird demon-like creature, with wide open eyes, visible holes for nostrils, and its mouth and teeth open and parted to show the pit inside—a hearth of logs and a flickering flame residing within it. Spikes were carved around the outside of this abstract figure that made the fire pit.

However, there was trouble—as both beings, goddess and demon, looked ahead, a surprised, "What?!" escaped Macaque's lungs, slamming the breaks as he threw his right foot forward, planting it on the ground and skidding to a stop before an onlooking discomfort that had made MK, Mei, Red Son, and Wukong all stop running as well Eastward. Everyone was looking upward, the sound of discontent and uncomfortableness and fear animosity in the air with heavy panting, Macaque following suit as he peered at something that made his jaw clench and his golden orbs flicker with concern and shock, taking a small step back as if he couldn't believe it.

Jīnsè had done the same, letting out a noise of surprise when she planted both paws on the ground, arms swaying behind her to keep herself balanced as she stopped and also peered upward—her heart looking like it audibly dropped in her chest as her silver eyes held a shaken look in them, pupils shrinking as her tail puffed a bit. At the same time, the shadow of something significant crept overhead as the White Cat muttered a soft and low, "Oh, no," while a deep frown crossed her mouth.

In front of the group was an enormous, overgrown dirt and stone-like wall that curved overtop of them at least fifty feet with backing built long ago by an ancient civilization from logs, leaving barely any room for them to find an opening and traverse this cliffside or go back the way they came just as quickly with the assets of abilities they had and risk being jeopardized by Howl. In other words...

"We're trapped," MK's voice quivered as he felt his stomach flutter from the height of the cliffside as he took a few steps back away from the potential of freedom no longer lying East, clutching the staff his mentor had lent him a bit firmer and tighter in his grip, a light sweat drop creasing his brow as he swallowed nervously—turning his head over his right shoulder to look at the rest of his team as they all had the same realization.

Wukong looked more frustrated than anything, trying to keep his cool as he glared intensely into the boulder wall—looking like he was going to demolish the thing but knowing the risk that the damage he would cause would leave him okay.

Still, his friends would be injured due to how unstable the cliffside was, the area leading North to South leaving little room to even so much as to begin wailing as he snapped his head over his right shoulder, not looking at the dark monkey or his sister, as he growled darkly, "Looks like we might have to fight our way through this."

"Do we really have no other option?!" Mei made a hysterical, dramatic sobbing noise, her free arm coming to cover her face as she groaned.

Though not sobbing, she just seemed significantly over it at this point. She wasn't in the mood to do battle (something that was uncharacteristic, even for her, which even caused MK to look at her from her left with surprise that she'd instead run than run in guns blazing) with something whose hide looked tougher than shoe leather and teeth sharper than her sword; in essence, she hadn't a clue what she was facing, more used to gods and demons, but not this.

To evenly answer Mei's question, everyone would then snap their heads over their shoulders at the same time with similar feelings of a situation turning from 0 to 100, turning around at the last second to see Howl clambering his way up the cliffside they had just traversed, and into the area they had locked themselves in, grunting the whole time as his claws dug and scratched at the dirt. Howl's entire upper half of his frame squeezed through the small opening that the six-party group had managed to get over with the help of his paws, spraying dirt everywhere—barely managing to make it inside as his lower half seemed stuck, his mouth opening and closing shut in a mock attempt at trying to eat the group, as if he could taste them from how loudly his nose was sniffing the air. Muzzle shrugged, Howl was huffing and growling in a fury at the lot of them—green eyes reading all that he wished to do to them and more as he swiped his right paw out at them swiftly and sharply as if to test the distance, even if he couldn't reach.

Jīnsè, sensing the tension mounting, went to take a few steps back and away from Howl, suggestively switching herself to the left side of Wukong, who had himself in a posture as if rearing to bring down the slam, his eyes in a dead-set dangerous expression filled with determination with his right hand forward and the other behind him in a boxing stance, followed by the White Cat taking a defensive stance, too—her knees shifting low to the ground as her hands curled into fists, bringing them up to her chest as she shouted to Mei across the snarling and yapping of the Howler struggling before the six-party group, "I don't think we have a choice! We'll have to test the waters!"

While everyone was mentally preparing to face down in close-quarters combat with Howl, his figure slowly but surely squeezed himself through the opening with the help of his paws digging into the dirt, his chest pushing grass and fauna from his reach, his face curled in a confident wince. At the same time, Macaque had taken a few side steps back himself—looking a smidge nervous with the slight sweat drop beading on his upper brow but taking a tall stance, his black tail twitching behind him in anticipation but seemingly annoyed as he let out a low and throaty snarl in his throat, baring teeth. Red Son and Mei were beside one another, setting themselves in their stances. Mei hesitantly held her Dragon Sword in both her hands now, clutching the onyx handle with everything she had—her dark orbs holding a wariness to them but seemed ready to take on a deadly foe as her chin shifted down to her chest, whereas the fire demon himself held both his fists up—fire igniting from his palms and swarming around his fingertips. In contrast, his glasses shifted up his nose, reflecting the sharp lighting of the heat he carried as he stared daggers toward the Howler, ready for the slightest chance to spill his first blood.

Never did anyone dare to imagine Niwen would be this dangerous—but, again, this was only their beginning, their test and a taste of what was expected from the wild and unknown. In the far background to the North, where the heels and piles of different formations of rock lay, Moki had taken to watch from the stands and sidelines, some climbing atop the rock piles like squirrels to get a better view from above and watching the problem afoot—their curious, wide, yellow bug-eyed orbs looking on as they watched on in silence, resting on their hind legs. They were an audience, albeit small, interested in the new souls who had transferred themselves to their home, some tilting their heads left and right while others chittered to one another in their soft language.

MK, in the far background, didn't prepare himself. His dark eyes had glanced to the right of him toward the fire pit closest to him, and a sudden lightbulb went off in his mind—if it meant injuring and seeing Howl's weaknesses, why not use the one thing that had once helped guide them in the beginning that the Moki had given him and he passed off to Red Son? The brown-haired mortal glanced between the flickering torch resting in the uncanny-looking fire pit to Macaque, then from Macaque to the fire pit. He repeated this a couple of times—an idea forming in his mind as he then swiftly reached over, clutching the end of the torch resting atop other logs within his right hand's grasp, shifting the staff from the Monkey King to his left hand, giving the flickering flame he was holding a once over before he then looked forward.

MK shouted from the back of the group nearest to the cave wall behind him shielding the East from his diaphragm, "Macaque! Catch!"

Heads had turned at the sound of the shadow monkey's name tickling their eardrums—confusion and blank looks paramount coming from Red Son, Wukong, Mei, and Jīnsè as to what MK was possibly thinking of doing though not interrupting or planning to stop him. The shadow demon, whose six ears had tickled in a frenzy to look and do as MK was telling him to do, glanced over his right shoulder in an almost casual manner as he quirked a brow in his direction, muttering a low, "Hmph?" beneath his breath but realized sooner rather than later what the mortal was thinking as he turned around fully at the last second for a good reason.

MK reared his right arm before tossing the torch above everyone's heads, flickers of firefly-like trails whispering off the end of the torch and dissipating in the air as the torch tumbled once, then twice...

Macaque caught it in an instant in his left hand, a part of him wondering what the Hell MK thought as he gave the kid a look from the front of his group that read to him blatant perplexion, a slight tilt of the head suggesting that he didn't fully understand—until the sound of Howl bursting from his preemptive stronghold could be heard for miles around, rocks crumbling to the forest floor and the sound of a deep resounding wolfish grunt ringing through the atmosphere as he made it through, before followed by a guttural screech as the monster was hungry and yearning to be fed. Howl's upper body lurched forward as he tilted his jaw open and sideways green orbs locked specifically onto Macaque as a ghoulish grin was curled on his devilish mouth—letting himself revel in the joy he had finally caught his prey while his figure overshadowed his meals.

Ah. Now Macaque understood.

There was a change in the atmosphere from how Jīnsè shifted, her mouth curled into a demented glower, announcing to everyone while her silver eyes took on that putrid white hue again as she cried out, "Here he comes!"

The shifting of nervousness to sheer confidence to get this done and over with resounded in reply—from Mei bringing her sword up closer to her face, Red Son gearing to searing heat, and Wukong's fists glowing that same golden aura from earlier—the shadow demon understood the assignment he had been granted. Closing his eyes to himself as the world darkened for a moment around him, his back currently turned to the Decayed wolf-monster, what was once a frown soon twisted itself into a smug smirk—his eyes gleaming with resolve and thirst that he had been longing to quench as he thought to himself at that moment hellishly, 'You're done for.'

At the very last second, when Howl had reared down to close and snap off his head, Macaque at the same time would twist his upper body around in a sharp thrust, torch arching up and downward that would connect with Howl and avoid his chomp, chuckling lightly as he co*ckily whispered under his breath as his golden orbs flickered into that purple color, "Boo."

"WHAM!"

Ash and sparkles of fire and timbre flashed and tossed into the air as the sound of a yip and holler roared—Howl's entire figure whipped from Macaque's hit and meeting dirt in milliseconds as he crumpled to the ground on his left side, fur flailing around from the sudden strength he was inadvertently faced with. Gasps and squeaks of awe and wonder erupted from the background to the North as the Moki watched on, spectators to the one creature that had hunted them for so long now becoming the hunted as their yellow eyes were wide with intrigue. A wince broke from Howl's features before he shook his snout vigorously, swiftly shifting himself to stand on all fours again shakily, but this time putting distance between himself and Macaque as he backed up in a low crouch, green eyes wide in shock before letting out a behemoth roar of pain towards the sky as the wind kicked up:

"GRE-A-A-A-A-A-A-AH!"

Howl's face had become aflame in seconds, his fur catching wind of the torch as ash and dust crumpled along his jaw and snout, red flames dancing along his vision as he was desperately swiping his paw across his face to snuff it out of his fur—evident loud and panicked breathing escaping his snout as he was now more focused on himself then the hunger in his stomach, rolling his face into the ground wildly.

The wind whipped fur, hair, and clothes.

Macaque had to slap both of his hands over his six ears to keep his eardrums from bursting from Howl's wind and scream—wincing, though not by much, with Wukong in the backdrop covering his face with his right arm in the backdrop from little bits of leaves and grass hitting his features, red orbs sealing shut, Jīnsè following along and crossing her arms over her face in an "X" motion with her silver eyes narrowing onto Howl with a slight grimace from the gust, whereas Mei, Red Son, and MK, not in sight of the wind, looked stunned by this relegation before them—not needing to duck and cover as they were the furthest back in the group while they looked on with wide-eyed realization and jaws slightly slacked.

When the gust of air died down, Howl still dealing with trying to stamp out the flames in his fur in a blind panic with his giant paws, Macaque took the opportunity to look to the rest of the group behind him—knowing just what this meant, torch having been beaten out of its fire, knowing that the only ones in the group who remotely could smoke the Howler would be the ones who relied on fire-based magic the most since he didn't have anything remotely like that, "He's allergic to fire!"

"'Allergic to fire,' you say?" Jīnsè murmured lightly under her breath in question in response to Macaque, removing her arms from her face as her snake-like pupils locked onto Howl, who was still trying to pat out the flames and the current burns he was experiencing, her silver eyes flickering with resolve before it was then she felt a confident streak blossom within her—a light, toying smile curling on her mouth as she muttered lowly while her tattoos began glowing alight in a wicked gold color, "I have just the thing."

Wukong had lowered his arms from his once crinkled features, the exclamation from his ex-brother not going unwarranted as he had felt his ear tickle from the words the feline goddess was hushing to herself, his red orbs shifting to her as he took three quick hop steps back and away, knowing what was about to go down, asking, "You still have that elemental trick up your sleeve?"

The Monkey King would wave for Macaque to get back. This resulted in the dark monkey, albeit a smidge annoyed he was being told what to do, obeying for his sake not to have his rear-end seared—dropping the burnt-out torch onto the forest floor and shifting to take a light jog past Jīnsè to the left to settle himself to the right of Wukong, spinning around once more to look at the still struggling Howl before them in such tight proximity. In reply, the White Cat had given a brief nod to that statement to the orange simian, her body soon shifting low to the ground—growling lowly beneath her breath like a tiger, brows stitched in focus, as she began muttering a spell beneath her breath in a tongue not familiar to them, a small gold circle encased in ethereal twisting and flying designs manifesting before her mouth that almost symbolized a gear-star-like monogram as she was inhaling a lot of air through her mouth doing so.

Macaque and Wukong were watching in earnest, deciding to take the back burner for this round, all while the dark demon couldn't help but find himself perplexed as to what the White Cat was doing, his ears picking on the spell and not understanding a lick of it—sparing a glance to his lighter counterpart in silent question as to what was about to go down, but only receiving a cheeky grin from Wukong in return that read a look that suggested he wait and see.

MK had found himself suddenly transforming from uncertain to a broad smile—knowing the circ*mstances of this as he peered at his group members, knowing that he would also have to take the back seat, but not minding it for a second, as he gave a glance to the dragon horse girl to the left of him and proudly boasted as he took a suggestive step back to keep a safe distance, "Go get 'im!"

Mei had heard her friend's enthusiasm for her, sparing the brown-haired mortal a small side eye and giving a triumphant nod in return as she could feel her heart racing with adrenaline and, for once, felt excitement from where she stood in the far back—a smile slowly growing on her mouth as she shuffled the sword she held in her hands to then allowing the handle to reside in her right palm, glancing at Red Son in front of her as she teasingly asked him, "Y' thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

The fire demon didn't need to hear anything else beyond that matter as Red Son, a playful smirk crawling his mouth as he knew that the upper hand was nigh, rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck as his hands, once covered with flames, soon died down, dissipating along with the heat as he knew just what he was going to do, a small plan formulating in his mind, as he replied, "Oh, yes, I am. And I believe we just sealed our ticket to victory."

At the same time, Howl seemed to have gained his vision back. The flames were still on him, albeit less. He let out a thunderous snarl to the lot of them, pissed off, hurt, and hungrier than he had ever been, not caring that his skin felt like it was melting beneath him as he heaved himself forward and, once more, reared his head up and lifted his right paw to swing down and strike, fury in his gaze while down below came the lightning awaiting him. Red Son and Mei, in a flicker of clothing, sprinted to the front of the group to meet up to the left and right of the White Cat and stand before Howl, albeit at a distance, unsure if Jīnsè had a plan up her sleeve. Mei loaded up her sword and thrust it forward in front of her with her right hand as a green aura surrounded her figure, spitz of energy erupting around her figure as a figure of a silhouetted dragon seemed to engulf her figure and hand with beams of green light. In contrast, Red Son had raised his right hand to his mouth, igniting the tips of his fingers and withholding air in his lungs to gust out red fire from him like a circus act. Jīnsè, in turn, after whispering her tune, had clicked her sharp teeth together—scraping her canines swift and brutal against one another on her lower and upper jaw as the sound of what would be the equivalent of a lighter escaped her throat, golden sparks shining in her mouth from her act.

"LIGHT 'IM UP, BOYS!" Mei cheered in determination, a hearty growl riding her throat and throwing her head back in a whoop, prepared to unleash the beast.

And that they did—in a single moment of green flames spurting from Mei's being, to Red Son unleashing a whirlwind of red flames, to then gold flames spritzing from Jīnsè's mouth as she breathed air into her little magic trick, the power of heat and flame combined one next to the other had caught Howl off-guard as he was swarmed in melding colors of fire that completely obscured his figure from view. A loud sound of yipping and mournful wailing escaped from the being responsible for hunting the Moki of Niwen, absolutely barraged with flames as the Moki watched on from the sidelines in stunned silence—their tiny mouths open as they witnessed something they had never thought possible. They didn't know the Howler could be taken on, but they had been proven wrong. One tiny Moki in particular, sitting amongst members of its kind, pointed to the three beings who produced the flames with a beam on their mouth in utter shock as if they couldn't believe their eyes, chittering in fast excitement as they were jumping on their hind legs in joy.

In those ten seconds that lasted an eternity of nothing but flames and heat, Wukong, MK, and Macaque watched the spectacle unfold—with MK's eyes filled with pride for his friends as they handled the Howler with utter finesse, sparkles dancing in his vision, to the Monkey King fanning away the heat from his slightly sweating fur nonchalantly with his right hand and letting out a breath as he could feel the heat from here, to Macaque having a nervous but impressed smirk riding his mouth as he crossed his arms over his chest, as while he was familiar with and had seen the remarkable-ness of Red Son's and Mei's abilities on hand before, he was rather fascinated on how the goddess had managed to control her form of fire—having only known for some friends and foes to channel energy beams, but not this.

Muttering lowly, Macaque recalled Wukong's quick question earlier to the White Cat, as was his sensitive hearing, and reminisced as his golden orbs darkened, "So, that's what he meant by 'elemental.' Huh."

Whatever that miniature sutra was, it was something he hardly recognized—all but more curious and intrigued and keeping a note of that. When the flames turned off—green, red, and gold retracting to their predecessors with Mei and Red Son hardly breaking a sweat, while Jīnsè was softly panting to catch her breath from the lungful excursion she had to make—Howl's fur was entirely seared in the different colors of fire, stumbling back in and on himself, startled and wholly terrified out of his wits now that he was on the back end of the stick, his eyes slightly blinded from it as he swiped his left paw upward to cover his face as he was rearing back in utter agony, his back feet slipping over the edge of the cliff and only barely catching himself to continue standing.

But...

At that moment...

Mei had been standing a little bit too close to the wolf-like monster. Howl hardly so much as glanced at her and was more concerned with the screw-you pain he was dealing with in his vision. But when his paw made that sweeping gesture, it came into direct contact with Mei's right shoulder, all happening in slow motion as she barely caught sight of Howl's paw—until it was too late. Her head shifted to the right as she let out a sound of confusion until she was utterly smacked over and down in front of a startled White Cat, her Dragon Sword falling from her hand and to the ground in front of a shocked Red Son—her head colliding with the dirt and rocking her skull as she let out a scream from the hit. Her leather jacket and shirt were torn in one go. In the next instance, Mei was lying on her left side as grass messed in her hair, and her body was briefly limp.

"Mei!" Jīnsè and Red Son had both shouted at the same time in unison, concern cresting both of their features, with the White Cat taking the opportunity to stand straight and swiftly close the gap by swinging three steps forward, satchel swinging around her body—dropping to her knees, not giving a damn that they were already jacked up from flying through the trees and crash landing hours earlier despite how much they screamed in pain.

She sat before the dragon girl and instantly cuddled the girl's head against her chest in a protective manner as she assessed her, but she didn't need to, as it was then her left hand holding Mei's right shoulder was bloodied when she went to raise it—feeling wetness. Jīnsè felt her blood turn cold from the sight, her hand twitching from the red stain, her breath hitching as her ears reared back.

MK's heart about dropped to the ground when he saw the red that stained the goddess's hand—Wukong and Macaque's features also dropping their once boisterous nature to one of genuine shock and a split second of fright as they realized that, yes, injuries were of normal circ*mstance.

Mei had looked like she had been right through the butcher shop, a similar feeling of, "Oh, sh*t," sweeping over everyone's faces as MK shouted at the top of his lungs, beating Wukong and Macaque to it, "MEI!"

Jīnsè lifted her left hand higher to her face to show her palm covered in iron, seeping down her furry wrist, much to the horror that was soon paramount across the group that their team member was significantly injured—with Red Son not waiting for a moment to think of the dragon girl's jade sword to then sprinting on up to her to the left side and peering over the feline goddess's left armored shoulder as his entire face dropped the pretense of annoyance to one of genuine worry as it looked like Mei was rattled, "Damn it all, Mei! Are you alright?!"

MK would then appear over Jīnsè's right armored shoulder—his staff had vanished from view.

It was no longer in his hands, shrunken down to the size of a pin needle and tucked behind the curvature of his left ear, while both of his hands were in his brown hair, looking down at his friend teary-eyed and shocked, "Can you hear us?!"

Red spurted from a three-claw-deep flesh wound on Mei's right arm, flesh hanging from her body in threads as she shakily peered up from Jīnsè's lap to her face, adrenaline keeping her from screaming as she didn't feel anything but numbness—her world spinning for a moment as she was staring into the stone cold silence and dread that was of the goddess's features, groaning and wincing at the tingling sensation she felt in her right arm, wincing as she whimpered out, her voice shaky as she tearfully blinked her eyes open—torture written in her features as she wailed, "My... my arm! My arm is cut open! My arm is cut OPEN!"

'It's better she's breathing than dead,' Jīnsè praised the highest power to the Buddha that the young mortal was alright, letting out a sigh of relief from her nostrils as she was ready to curtly reply to the tearful young girl she was currently holding in her arms, keeping calm despite the circ*mstances to reassure her and her current onslaught of panicked breathing. But, the party wasn't over yet. While MK was still belligerently stressing in the background, his entire heart in his throat that Mei was almost gutted like a rotisserie chicken, his eyes pinpricked with tears of concern for his best friend, while Red Son was examining the wound and ready to gauge and get it cleaned, Howl would catch all of their attention in the very last second.

An array of gasps erupted in the backdrop of the forest outlook, Moki sitting up on their hind legs on rock statues, some clutching one another, others covering their yellow eyes with their big, grey, floppy ears with the help of their paws. In contrast, one singular Moki from the crowd to the North on a curving rock formation cupped their paws around their mouth and shouted in a high-pitched squeak, "Look out! He's coming again!"

The flames were still implemented into Howl's fur, burning and singing it, red charred skin visible on his face that looked like something out of a horror movie as fur fell off in clumps, his paws digging into the ground as he decided that if he was going to go down, he was going to go down swinging—leaving Red Son, MK, Mei, and Jīnsè all to look upward as they were, for a split second, sitting ducks as the devilish and fiendish wolf creature took a single leap forward from the edge of the cliffside he had almost fallen from, flames flying from his fur, eyes blazed in green, as he looked like something ripped from the bowles of Hell itself.

While Red Son, Jīnsè, and MK would have more than likely taken care of it—with Mei too weak and injured to split teeth on the matter, Jīnsè and MK reacted in turn, with the Monkie Kid getting himself low as he was prepping himself to throw hands with Howl, grinding his teeth and features set as both of his fists, much like the Monkey King, began to glow an aura of a gold-ish red as he was ready to unleash a flurry of blows. In contrast, the White Cat curled her right arm snuggly under Mei's back, holding the girl protectively against her chest, who was silently trembling in her arms in pain, her left hand cradling Mei's head to her left shoulder. Features set in a heavy glower, Jīnsè began muttering the same sutra under her breath from earlier, clicking and scraping her canines together again to prepare to unleash another blast of flames at Howl. Wukong had made his move in the background to sprint forward—his hands coming to rest on both of Jīnsè's shoulders covered in dragon scales and brass armory as his eyes glowed a fierce and protective yellow, his mouth pulled into a deep scowl as much like his prodigy, he was ready to throw down.

However, Red Son had been a little more aware than everyone else. While he might have gauged on also loading up another fire spell, his peripheral vision caught a dark shadow tearing through the foyer in the backdrop—sprinting around and to the left of him with the glimmer of a dark purple spike-ended cudgel swinging into view as Macaque, to the uttermost shock of everyone to witness it, had come in out of nowhere, his features set in a terrifying glare as he hardly said a word, didn't need to, letting out a roar of fury as he swung his cudgel up and below his shoulder in a sweeping arch and a twist of the hips directly into Howl's chin. A sickening crack of bones breaking rang through the air, encroached with it a harrow-some cry that escaped Howl—fully pushed back as he stumbled over himself, his lower legs going over the edge of the cliff the six-party group had traversed as an attempt to escape from the black simian, desperately clawing the stone and mirth beneath him to gain stable ground. The Howler's jaw seemed ever-so-slightly swollen from the impact he had taken, letting out a cry of utter rage to the sky before, in the next instance, he ducked his snout over his right shoulder, turning tail, pushing himself off to the cliff face, Decay-like substance and flames trailing in his wake, and ran away with small yips of pain to boot. The Moki in the background that had once been watching, the instant that Howl had turned to leave out of fear for his life, had also gone—their fuzzy grey bodies disappearing back into the underbrush they had come from, clambering down the rock formations in the backdrop, like shadows of the night, never to be seen again.

There was heavy panting and breathing from the six-party group as, in their view, the green, red, and golden fire that had been blasted at Howl had been left onto little flickers of grass when he had run, leaving a lasting impression of the beast that had tried to overwhelm them so. It was a moment that left everyone to catch their breath—mainly Macaque, caught in the stillness of the moment as he was regaining his composure, caught mid-strike with his purple and black cudgel carrying the faintest hint of ripping Howl's fur out.

Shakily and slowly, Macaque would stand and relax—exhaling sharply through his nostrils as he flipped his cudgel skillfully in his right hand to rest on his shoulder, turning himself around to peer at his party, who all were looking at him in stunned silence, more so Wukong out of all of them, that he had busted his ass out of nowhere to pull a finishing move like that, much to the slight confusion from the dark simian as he co*cked a brow at the lot of them, shrugging as he replied lowly, shifting his cudgel off his shoulder and letting it lazily fall into his left palm and bouncing it, "I did what I had to. He had it coming."

The Monkey King released his hands off of the White Cat's shoulder armory, standing up straighter behind her as he crossed his arms over his chest, co*cking a brow in turn to his darker counterpart, not commenting on it but judging super hard and silently. In Wukong's opinion? That was a light slap on the wrist to what he would have done, knowing what he could do and how much punishment Howl should have received. But he didn't say a single word, keeping that matter to himself, knowing his impulsive tendencies.

Instead, the fire demon was the one to cut the awestruck quietness, clearing his throat with the back of a right closed fist and raising it to rest over his Adam's apple before shifting his hands to rest on his hip. "Well, whatever it was—" Red Son replied, nodding toward the direction that Howl had escaped from, the quiet chirping of crickets and noises of the forest returning to normal, along with the soft singing of the wind, "—it's gone and won't be looking for us anymore. We can be thankful for that due to Macaque's intervention."

The respectful nod the fire demon gave to the shadow demon didn't go unwarranted, making Macaque give a slight smirk in return to Red Son, feeling flattered.

A breathless chuckle blew through his nostrils as he glanced sheepishly at the mossy pasture around him and murmured bashfully, "Yeah, well..."

He was humbling himself, not taking the compliment.

Jīnsè, despite still clutching the poor, bleeding Mei in her arms in a tender embrace, couldn't help herself in acknowledging the art of war that Macaque had conducted—his usefulness to be swift and cunning something that had genuinely helped all of them, a light smile appearing on her mouth as her fluffy tail curled around herself and Mei like a safe veil yet to be seen, murmuring with a bow of her head in appreciativeness toward the dark monkey, her silver orbs fluttering shut as she put aside personal feelings of unease around Macaque to acknowledge his prowess, "Thank you, Macaque. Truly. That was a remarkable feat."

The dark simian let his gaze shift from the Earth to glance at the couple of faces who seemed genuinely relieved that he had saved them, something that he more or less would've been unwilling to admit. Still, instead of the usual disappointment, he got something new that brought a sense of ease and comfort he wasn't usually familiar with (which was saying something).

Macaque's golden orbs mainly rested on the goddess who had invited (allowed) him to tag in on this quaint adventure thus far, finding it a tad surreal she was thanking him when he expected harsh criticism like Wukong.

His gaze, once hardened, softened as he casually shrugged again, his smirk transitioning to a more subtle and nuanced smile, repeating himself with a shrug, replying, "As I said, I did what I had to do."

An over-dramatic cough filled the silence.

"Okay, great, lo-o-o-o-ove that you all are having a bonding moment," Mei remarked sarcastically from Jīnsè's arms, raising her head from the feline's shoulder, causing five pairs of eyes to turn down to her as the dragon horse girl seemed visibly annoyed, a smidge frightened, and sickeningly pale all in one go before she threw her good left arm to the sky in a fist, exclaiming in a fit as some went wide-eyed from her anger, "but is no one going to take in the fact that my freaking arm is busted open?!"

The dragon horse girl had smoke fuming from her nostrils. Still, she then whimpered in pain, losing her momentum in mere seconds, her blood dribbling down her right arm, having flowed into the grass in a puddle and only getting heavier and thicker by the second as her eyes became glazed. Mei slumped back into the White Cat's arms, switching around to where her back was against Jīnsè's red qipao, backpack awkwardly jumbled against her back—dark bags growing under her eyes as the blood from her open wound looked worse than it had been seconds ago, her leather coat torn and ruined in red, muttering a low and exhausted, "Ow," under her breath as she closed her eyes out of pain, a light sweat breaking on her forehead.

MK would be the first to come around from the side, everyone surrounding Mei and Jīnsè; Macaque approached from where he was standing—still carrying his shadow staff in a tight grip in case Howl came back and had a more brutal beating. Eyes would glance and peer down at the dragon horse girl, none more so worried than MK, who was seen crouching in front of his best friend before settling on his knees before her—his lips pursed together.

His cheeks looked a smidge green from the wound he was looking at, feeling queasy from the smell of iron, but also concerned for Mei as he looked over the wound, wondering briefly if he had been smart enough to pack bandages, hustling to shuffle his black backpack off of his shoulders, yanking his bag in front of him and ripping the zipper left to right as he went digging, shoving his whole head into his bag and trying to appease if he could help, "Hang on, Mei! I might have some bandages in here! Just bear with me!"

As Wukong leaned over the White Cat's left-most shoulder armory, his red orbs sight-seeing into the flesh that hung off and barely clung to Mei's body, he could see the muscles and torn tissue.

Howl had barely come into contact with bone as Wukong knew that this was worse than what was once assumed—shaking his headdress as the quail feathers on it waved in the wind, murmuring lowly and softly in a tone that suggested pity, "Bud..." MK would gasp like a fish as he ripped his head out of his backpack, looking to his mentor and teacher with scraggly brown hair, as the orange monkey grimly whispered to his prodigy with the light fading from his orbs, "...bandages won't resolve this. The wound is deep. She will only continue to lose blood even if it's wrapped."

MK felt his dark orbs grow wide from that notion—settling back to rest on the back of his feet as he felt his whole body becoming numb at the prospect of losing someone. It was the same feeling he felt when Mei had been kidnapped by the Lady Bone Demon, almost having the True Fire of Samadhi, the core of Mei's powers, ripped from her very being.

However... MK, before he could resolve himself into a depression, felt his expression light up, not giving up hope for the dragon horse girl who seemed more sickly by the second in the goddess's arms as a sense of desperation in his tone began—looking from face to face, inquiring with a hint of ashiness to his tone, "Does anyone have stitches, then? Anyone?"

Eye to eye, face to face, nobody seemed to give a remote reply or answer—with Red Son seemingly shifting his dark orbs away with a shamefulness he never commonly felt as he shoved his hands into the deep pockets of his trench coat, to Macaque who could only express a look of forlorn and genuine pity for the brown-haired red-banded mortal, closing his eyes and dipping his chin to his chest, to Wukong who seemed to have turned his golden orbs away, as well, scratching at his left cheek pensively with his left hand as he couldn't bear himself to watch, a sickening feeling worming its way into his gut as he was reminded of past deeds and actions similar to this he couldn't resolve. MK damn near felt like giving up at that exact moment—his orbs filling slowly with tears, finding himself internally frightened and frustrated that he couldn't fix this like he usually did, and he felt useless that he couldn't; no one had anticipated this to happen.

The Monkie Kid's throat closed as his eyes were glassy, swallowing the knot in his throat that closed as he looked upon Mei, croaking out her name weakly as her breath seemed slower than usual, his voice filled with heartbreak as he reached forward and set a hand on her knees, "Mei..."

But hope would not be lost.

"I can fix it," Jīnsè all but hummed lightly and calmly—her silver orbs honed in on Mei's features as her tail flicked pensively around her as if having echoed MK's hopes and prayers in a single instance, heads that had once been solemn and wrecked with guilt turning down to look at the feline before them as if she had just spoken the words of God.

MK's tears that had once been on the pinpricks of his orbs had dried up almost instantly, blinking furiously as he glanced from his slowly fading friend to then the goddess, a part of him cautious that he possibly heard things, a look of disbelief stretching his features as he asked out in a trembling stutter, "Y—You can?"

Jīnsè would mutter something lowly under her breath out of earshot in a language not known to the mortal before her, Mei breaking a light sweat from her wound—the blood flowing down her left arm and dripping from her pinky finger to the forest floor only intensifying.

Jīnsè first wiped away the blood on her left hand on the ground she accrued from touching Mei's wound by accident before she then carefully and gently used her cleaned up, albeit still red, hand to guide Mei's arm toward her face and examine the hefty wound, using her right arm, too, albeit awkwardly with her backpack in the way, as a way to hold up the dragon horse girl who was currently in a stress nap, murmuring once more to MK as she flickered her silver orbs up to him and then back down to his friend as she reassured all of her team members now, "I can fix it."

In deliberate and gentle movements, the White Cat would shift herself to sitting down criss-cross applesauce—placing Mei's head into her lap with her right arm before focusing on the fresh three-pronged flesh wound. Jīnsè, with the precision of a surgeon, would use her left hand and take the first flap of skin hanging loosely off of Mei and slide it back over the opening with a press of her thumb before, in the next instance, her right hand came forward underneath and around Mei's arm—the soft mutter of a sutra residing under her breath as the tips of her right hand's fingers began to glow a subtle gold color. Using her index finger on her right hand, the White Cat patiently pressed it against the start of Mei's marking before dragging it from one end of the cut to the other, the skin suturing itself together but leaving a faint scar behind that would more than likely leave a lasting impression on the mortal's skin.

Red Son looked utterly baffled—his glasses dropping a smidge down his nose as he mouthed an obvious, "What the actual—?" but didn't seem to finish it as he watched on in intrigue, shoulders hiking, the golden glow residing from Jīnsè like a metalsmith worker searing metal together. Perhaps a part of the fire demon shouldn't have been surprised by the general prowess that came with the title claimed as "goddess." Wukong was, once again, left enamored with his friend's and sister's abilities; knowing her as a goddess had always made her a relatively worthy opponent but also an on-hand medic should the need arise, a fact that slipped his mind, impressed just how far her talent extended beyond the general scope of simple magic he was also familiar with as he crossed his arms. At the same time, a satisfied smirk appeared on his mouth. Much like Red Son, Macaque was left shocked, although he didn't show it despite his eyes widening slightly. He was, however, intently watching the work before him being done like a maiden with her needle and thread weaving intricate patterns to heal a wounded soldier. A light hum flowed from behind his lips, his eyes narrowing as an unreadable expression appeared on his features, his tail twitching behind him; it was hard to gauge his thinking.

Jīnsè would repeat the process with the following two wounds, being careful and patient, focused, as blood stopped pouring down Mei's arm—the scars present, but healing Mei in ways that wouldn't have been assumed to be possible.

With the final scar complete and tidied, the White Cat let out a sigh from her mouth, her right hand's glowing finger pads fading from their golden color—her left hand falling away from gripping Mei's right arm, giving a satisfied nod as she smiled pleasantly, saying to the absolute relief of MK who looked like he was about ready to scream from excitement but also cry at the same time, "That should do it. She will be fine. However, she will likely have these scars with her for the rest of her life."

To emphasize her point, Jīnsè would motion to Mei's left arm, where three visible scars were seen in a long and low arch that would be a story to tell for the ages.

See Also

List of The Yogi Bear Show episodes

She then gently jostled Mei's left shoulder to wake her up—dried blood on Mei's arm, but otherwise relatively safe from harm as Jīnsè whispered to her, her pink nose hovering over her features, "You okay, hun?"

Radio silence came from Mei, who seemed to be in a peaceful sleep from what had transpired earlier. Her cheeks were flush and rosy, no longer pale and sickly, and she had steadier breathing. She looked like a babe freshly born.

However, nothing seemed to be doing her service of getting her to wake up—with Jīnsè unsure if Mei hadn't heard her or was simply dead to the world and a hard sleeper, her silver orbs flickering upward out of instinct to peer at MK specifically, giving him a slightly sheepish look as she murmured while rubbing the back of her neck with her left hand, ears rearing back a little as she grinned from her lips nervously, "Well, ah— this doesn't normally happen. Usually, I find most immediately awake when healed of their sickness or injuries. This is a rare occurrence."

Red Son in the backdrop let out a light cackle, an idea forming in his mind as he shoved his glasses up his nose with his digits, a dangerous glint forming in his dark eyes as he pushed his trench coat out of his line of step and announced boisterously, "Oh-hoh, I got this."

There was a change in his tone that suggested he was about to do something either incredibly ingenious, stupid, or both—either, or he took a few steps in front of MK, though not entirely blocking the brown-haired mortal and placing himself into a crouch, his elbows resting on his knees as he looked down with a bored expression on the innocent, napping features Mei displaced in Jīnsè's lap. In contrast, the goddess looked upon Red Son earnestly to see if he had an idea to rouse her from slumber.

With a co*cky smirk appearing, Red Son reached his right hand forward, using his fingers to then pinch the bridge of Mei's nostrils together, thus closing off a pocket of the airway, which had alarmed the White Cat before him as her whole body tensed—her shoulders hiking up in uncomfortableness as the move Red Son pulled would help but was somewhat risky, her fluffy white tail puffing a bit as she exasperated to the fire demon with utter dismay, "What in Heavens' name do you think you are—?"

"Rise and shine, Dragon Horse Girl!" Red Son crooned down to Mei, smirking down at her, a part of him finding this a little bit rewarding on the fact that it was a tiny bit of revenge from past fights before Mei's dark eyes shot open in a mere instant—her cheeks turning a dark cherry red from lack of oxygen, cheeks puffing, before in the next instant Red Son was decked in the chin from an upward punch from her right hand, with Jīnsè simply shifting her upper body back and out of the way milliseconds before she could join it.

Red Son let out a wail of, "God... damn!... Sunnava!.." as he was clutching his chin with both of his hands, his teeth having come close to chopping his tongue off, his skull rattling in his ears, as he went tumbling back onto his rear end, curling into a ball and letting out a groan of pain as his eyes were closed tightly, pinpricks of tears in the corners of his shut orbs. MK looked both flabbergasted one second as he blinked owlishly toward the fire demon that had been knocked on his haunches in front of him, currently holding his aching chin, to then his lips squiggling to contain chortles—letting out a light snort under his breath as he hid his laughter by turning his face away, trembling to include it. Macaque and Wukong burst into immediate wheezing laughter—although the dark shadow monkey was the first to do it, clutching his middle with his right arm and pointing at Red Son with a mocking teasing gesture with his glowing, purple spiked cudgel as he could see this coming from a mile away. At the same time, Wukong had both hands clutching his face, leaning back on his heels as he let out gut-roaring chortles while his shoulders trembled. Jīnsè had to quickly cover her mouth with her right hand that curled into a fist, an amused smile on her mouth as she chuckled lightly under her breath, as she couldn't help but think, 'What was he expecting to happen? Anyone would have reacted much in the same way.'

"Dude! What the Hell was that? Hah!" Macaque chuckled lightly—his shoulders shaking as he could feel his stomach beginning to hurt from how much he was laughing, finding this genuinely hilarious as he had to bring his right hand up to his face to wipe the tears of joy from the corners of his golden orbs, a permanent smirk etched into his features.

Red Son grumbled something indecipherable under his breath, tearfully and achingly peeling his dark eyes open, a part of him incredibly tempted to gift them the rare bird from his hands, but only rubbing his chin and the bruise that was beginning to form under his skin and as a result, mockingly replying with annoyance and sarcasticness in his twitching lips as he glared at the grinning Macaque, "Oh, ha ha ha. Ve-e-e-ery funny. I don't see you dealing with a busted chin!"

Meanwhile, Mei was looking upward through the trees that swayed from the top side to side—fine and dandy, and the pain once present in her arm faded entirely as if she had just gotten out of an operating room. Slowly, she glanced at the figures around her while she was on her back in the feline goddess's lap. Red Son looked ready to smoke the dark simian and the orange simian from where he was sitting and presently making fun of him. While Red Son's whispy and fiery red hair turned into a flickering candle out of anger, MK behind him was quietly laughing without bringing attention to himself. The White Cat, in Mei's eyes, was currently cuddling her like a mother would when taking care of their child.

Jīnsè had turned her direction from the ongoing emerging bickering to then noticing through her 360-vision that Mei was looking at her, and out of instinct, turned her chin downward to look at the dragon horse girl, her right hand falling from her face out of amusem*nt back into her lap to rest comfortingly atop Mei's head as she gave an earnest and sincere look to the mortal and greeted her, "Hello, Mei. Feeling better?"

"I—I..." Mei would choke out, her throat a little dry but delicate as she, with a grunt, used her elbows to prop herself up while the goddess placed both her hands on her shoulders to help her sit straight, her fluffy tail moving to shift behind her.

Jīnsè removed her palms, and the dragon horse girl flexed her right arm—rolling her shoulder experimentally and feeling no brutal sting as she had endured earlier as she glanced down at her arm once ripped open to see it entirely sealed shut, save for the scars that were in place before glancing over her right shoulder to look at the Celestial being and asked softly with an expression of wonder in her eyes, "Yeah. Did... Did you do this?"

Jīnsè would quietly nod her head, a soft "Mm-hmm," slipping past her lips as her tail once more resumed to curl around her legs in her seated position, replying naturally to Mei as her slitted pupils shifted suggestively to her healed arm and ripped jacket sleeve, "You were losing a lot of blood too quickly, and I had to step in and heal it. Unfortunately, those wounds you earned have left scars on you for your time on Earth. I'm eternally grateful that wolf did not cleave too deeply to touch bone."

Mei felt shivers rush down her spine at that notion, a shakiness crossing her pupils. The thought and feeling of Howl and his claws coming down on her hadn't felt like anything but a smack—but he had seared her skin like butter. That wolf would likely be haunting her dreams for a while.

Still, the dragon horse girl would shift her attention down to her right arm to which Jīnsè had motioned with a subtle nod, glancing over the three-clawed marking that could only be visible when moving it in the lighting, before then turning her attention back to the goddess who was warmly staring back at her with half-lidded lazy eyes and a mature smile on her mouth.

Mei had only known this Celestial deity for a little bit, at least a couple of days. Still, the tenderness to look after her, shield her from Howl's fury as if she was going to take it, was something that made her heart stir with emotion as she felt her lips shake a little, her eyes welling with emotion and glassiness, before in the next instant she shifted herself to turn around on her behind.

Mei threw herself onto the White Cat—whose silver orbs went wide in surprise, smile fading from the sudden outburst, pupils thinning, but quickly catching the taller being in her arms awkwardly, backpack on Mei's back in the way, as she released a soft gasp of, "Oh! What's this?"

Mei's face was hidden in the brass dragon shoulder armory that Jīnsè wore, sniffling lightly as she had been dangerously close to dying from blood loss, her arms wrapped around Jīnsè's upper back as she croaked out weakly in a whisper and was stifling herself from crying, "Thank you, Jīn. Thank you..."

Jīnsè's heartstrings were tugged in that instant, her silver eyes softening as she shifted her chin in a way that suggested she was glancing at the dragon horse girl glomping her before a soft sigh escaped her chest.

She gave a light smile in return before tightening her arms a little in return around Mei's shoulders—her right hand coming to rest on her head and cradling it as she murmured back, "My dear, I am a protector and a shielder to those who need it most. It is an honor to help you."

The faintest sound of purring could be heard trilling from the White Cat's throat in an act of comfort for Mei before slowly letting go of the dragon horse girl who was smiling shakily down at her, resting on her knees as dried tears stained her cheeks as she rubbed away weakly at them with the back of her hands, saying, though this time less crackly, in a joking manner, "How is it that you always sound strangely poetic?"

Jīnsè couldn't help herself from letting out a light laugh from that statement—a jingling bell that was contagious, as she would reach forward with her left hand to gently grasp Mei's right hand, giving it a light squeeze in reassurance as she replied with a pearly grin as she nodded her head left and right lightheartedly in thought, "Well, I have been around many wise people—demon, god, or otherwise—in my life and thus have done my best to pass on their teachings that I have learned to those who want the truth heard. I have also come to learn in my own time many lessons in age and pass them on, too. In this case, it is no different."

"Oka-a-a-y, that is the exact thing a wise person would say," Mei jested and snickered as her dark orbs closed from happiness, shaking Jīnsè's hand with her own playfully, a broad smile on her mouth, clearly feeling much better and perked up from the light innocence that seemed to accompany that Celestial being that appeared to be humbling herself before her.

In contrast, Jīnsè seemed to co*ck her head to the side in return with an ever-so-slight sly smile and lazy half-lidded eyes toward the mortal knowingly. The laughter in the background from the black and orange simian had died down, along with MK's wanton chuckling and the cold-hearted jabbing words of Red Son, who had quit his complaining of getting punched in the lower jaw, to where it seemed all the men were watching in silent observance this quiet and peaceful back-and-forth conversation between the two women.

That is, until MK had burst the bubble as he completely shoved Red Son aside with his left hand—much to his chagrin and utter disappointment as he shouted, while he wholly sprawled, arms and legs spread eagle, across the grass in a growling and thunderous tone of, "Are you serious right now, noodle boy?!" as grass once more stuck from the high ponytail he had pinned up, shaking a fist at the brown-haired mortal in fury as he just as quickly sat up on the ground, a part of him wondering why this somehow kept happening to him above all else.

"Mei!" MK exclaimed tearfully, much to the slack-jawed look of Red Son in the background, not getting a proper apology from the mortal.

Poor guy; one could see the fire demon in the background waving both of his arms at MK and looking at Macaque with a look that emphasized the audacity MK displayed, to which the dark simian in return could only give a half-hearted shrug in reply with pursed lips as he had no control over MK's actions.

The brown-haired boy had ditched his backpack in his lap, the contents, all of it being necessity items, briefly spilling out of it onto grass, and wrapped his arms around the dragon girl's neck from her right—having crawled hands and knees to her like a grasshopper, his cheek affectionately nuzzling against hers as he sobbed out, while Mei was giggling at her friend's antics while her cheek was smooshed, "I thought you were going to die on me!"

Jīnsè kept quiet but could be seen smiling in the backdrop, pleased with the outcome, not wanting to intervene in this precious reunion as all eyes, including hers, watched the two friends clash.

"N-n-n-no—pe!" Mei chirped, popping the "p" in her words as she raised her right hand and gently patted his back comfortingly before she then brought her right arm forward—squeezing it between herself and MK—as she twisted the scars visible in the limelight back and forth and with a cheeky smile, explaining as she motioned to it epically, "Check it out! I got scars now, yo! Courtesy of Dr. Jīnsè and her Midas Touch!"

"Whoa-a-a-a-ah!" The Monkie Kid gasped, his dark eyes filled with stars, starstruck, as he couldn't help but admire the warrior wounds Mei had accumulated—previous sadness having shushed, gone with the wind, before it was then he completely whipped his gaze around, letting go of Mei in the process, to look at Wukong—who was currently in the middle of looking, coincidentally, directly at Mei before his and his student's eyes locked, in which MK asked, "Monkey King. When am I going to be getting cool-looking scars like this?"

Red Son and Macaque looked up simultaneously at the brown-haired mortal, utterly astonished at the deep meaning and innocence behind MK's words. The dark monkey looked like he was practically about to die from a hoard of laughter again, but stifling it (though barely) by slamming his free hand's fist against the brass plating that covered his chest as he glanced toward the orange monkey while the fire demon just... looked at MK with an unreadable expression but didn't want to ruin the boy's talk.

The Great Sage looked like a deer caught in the headlights, his hands waving out in a simmer-down motion, "Wait, wait, hold on, bud—" He then chuckled as he took some steps forward toward his disciple, crouching beside MK to settle on his left as Wukong clasped his right arm around his student's shoulders in a small side hug as he replied, giving a lesson in the process, "Scars can be quite painful until they heal. Ya can't run around willy-nilly throwing yourself at opponents and expect to get one. It's a matter of being careful."

Macaque could be seen in the background letting out a low chuckle, a smirk crawling on his mouth as he then allowed his cudgel to fade from the palms of his hands back into the dust with a flicker of purple shadows, crossing his arms over his chest as he co*cked his head at Wukong and crooned with a roll of his eyes into his skull, "Oh, that is RICH coming from you."

Wukong whipped his head to the left and glared hard at Macaque, his brows set and giving him an upset, pouty look as the dark monkey was currently casting his ex-friend an indifferent look that suggested that if he were willing to screw around, he would be finding out real quick just what it meant when two beings of similar prowess and strength could clash heads again. One could see sparks of anger erupting between the two monkeys. However, this was interrupted by the Monkie Kid, in which Monkey King shifted his red eyes back down to his student, who seemed to be looking at his lap not sadly but somewhat curiously.

"Oh," MK blinked innocently, his cheeks rusting a light pink out of meekness before then, much to the utter shock of those listening—which had caused Mei to let out a gasping and choked laugh as her arms curled around her gut with joy in her eyes and had made Jīnsè to even quietly giggle, her silver eyes shutting as she shook her head in merriment, "Well, my point still stands. How do I get 'em?"

Red Son let out a snort in the backdrop from where he had been shoved away, completely ignoring the throbbing skin on his chin as he was enthralled with the current defunct going on before him, settling himself to cross one leg over the other as he gave a suggestive smirk to the back of the orange monkey's head, thinking, 'Here comes trouble.'

Wukong had let out a low and trailing, "U-u-u-uh," looking quite unsure of how to genuinely answer this as a sweat drop came on his upper brow, casting a glance away for a quick second out of nervousness, before he looked back and then gave MK's shoulder a light squeeze and gave a wary smile and lighthearted wink toward his successor in return, deciding vagueness was better rather than saying an outright answer of yes or no, "We'll discuss it in the future."

MK seemed satisfied with that standpoint, giving a cheerful nod and a boastful grin to his mentor, who was internally relieved that his student hadn't pressed on the matter. Mei would take the opportunity to stand up from her spot, using her hands and a rock of her legs to push herself up to get herself on her feet, brushing the grass off of her palms with her hands rubbing against one another, backpack slumped on her spine, her dark eyes casting around the general area to look for her Dragon Sword. She then spotted it slightly hidden and blended into a lump of grass and dirt, lying on its side where Red Son had once been fighting Howl, while the white onyx handle stuck out like a sore thumb against the greenery.

Mei swiftly speed walked over, making sure to maneuver herself around Wukong and MK, and lean over her waist to grasp her weapon in her right hand—giving it an experimental flip in her hand like a baseball bat, before setting the weapon on her shoulder, the weight and texture of it a familiar and comfortable feeling, before shifting on her heels and turning herself around to face her team with a grin as all eyes would turn to look at her, "Welp! Since that wolf... thing, or whatever it was, is gone, do you all think we should head back the way we came and see about finding shelter?"

Red Son let out a light disbelieving laugh in reply—finding that statement utterly ironic, letting out a scoff as he asked her outright rhetorically while co*cking his head over his right shoulder to look at her scrutinizingly, "Are you blind?" He would push himself to stand up by using his knees from his legs as leverage, fluffing out his red trench coat behind him and adjusting his silver glasses on the end of his nose before turning around to face the dragon horse girl with incredulousness as she had just had her arm slashed opened and then closed, a statement he didn't want to see reoccur again as he had genuinely been worried sick for Mei and waved his arms out at her, "You're telling me you want all of us to go back the same way that wolf freak wandered off to in the hopes of finding shelter? That thing might be waiting for us down there..." Red Son would point with his right hand's index finger beyond Mei to reference the rock wall. "...for his last chance at eating! I would much rather we continued moving East and hope for a more satiable outcome."

"Well..." Jīnsè piped up in response to the fire demon, deciding to input her word on the matter, using her knees as leverage to get herself to stand, shifting from one foot to the other and adjusting her qipao with a few strokes of the back of her hands—before resting them behind her back and casting her attention to the small flickering multi-colored flames that were still puffing in the grass in the direction Howl had run out of terror for his life, "...wherever the wolf is going, there may be a chance shelter will be there, too. Not to mention, nighttime is setting in early. Besides, considering the beating we gave him, I doubt he would want to have himself broken further. He will avoid us any chance he gets, thanks to Macaque's brutal 'reminder.'"

She put a spotlight on that last word as she shifted her orbs over to the dark monkey to the right of her, who gave a co*cky smirk in return to her comment, picking up on the nuance she left; the importance of it highlighted that Macaque had practically, or more importantly, might have shattered the Howler's jaw bone and that the wolf would have some trouble more than likely hunting or eating in the future, but that was only mere speculation.

"And if he is waiting in the direction we will be going?" Red Son shot back toward the feline goddess spitefully, challengingly, walking up to her and making his way past and between the Monkey King and MK, who were watching from their seated positions but not intervening, as the fire demon crossed his arms over his chest with a lour on his mouth and a narrow of his dark eyes upon Jīnsè as she only looked up at him with a poker face in return with the utter patience of a saint. "What then?"

"I'll take the bull by the horns," the Monkey King would interject, backing up the factor of safety awareness, releasing his hold on MK and, since he was only in a crouch, using his leg muscles to raise himself to stand, quail feathers swaying on his head, as he raised his left hand with the help of his index finger—motioning to his eyes as he explained with a mischievous grin. "I have my Golden Eyes of Truth, remember? If I see the sucker, I'll give him a good what for."

However, his talking almost made him look sinister, his knuckles cracking as his right hand balled to display his point.

Jīnsè and Red Son had both turned their attention to the Monkey King at the moment, with the feline not saying a word and deciding to keep to herself on the matter smartly, not wanting to provoke the fire demon accidentally, but seeing him narrow his eyes as he glanced between Wukong who seemed incredibly confident in himself to take on a Kaiju-size wolf, to the White Cat who only looked to him with curiosity for his atonement on the matter, before he finally decided as he flickered his fiery gaze dangerously between the two powerful deities, sighing deeply as he grumbled sarcastically, "...I'm going to regret listening to you, bozos..." Red Son then shifted his attention to MK and Macaque, glancing between them as he waved at them, wanting a second opinion on the matter as he inquired to them, sounding frustrated but not all too hyped either, "And you two? Do you agree to this?"

"As far as I see it?" Macaque hummed back with no set emotion in his tone, setting himself to shift his hip and co*ck it to the side, his hands tempted to tug at his scarf, but finding it awkward it wasn't where it usually was since Howl had ripped it to nothing but threads, before, again, shrugging his shoulders and giving a nonchalant reply, despite the malicious smirk that rode his lips with a glint of purple in his eyes, "If there is the potential for that wolf to come back, I can give him another broken limb for his trouble's."

MK grunted as he untied his legs from sitting for so long, his vision going spotty from standing up too quickly, but he shook it off and let the numbness in his legs fade.

He tapped his chin thoughtfully with his right hand in thought at Red Son's comment, echoing his mind matter-of-factly, "Well, I mean— we might have a better chance heading East with better sunlight. So-o-o-o, I'd rather risk the biscuit since we have a fair chance against that wolf since he's injured. Plus, I agree with Jīnsè. He won't pick a fight with someone who had the upper hand against him."

Red Son, the odds against him, let out a low groan as he placed his face into his right hand—conflicting opinions putting him in his place as MK wasn't wrong on the fact that, with Jīnsè's previous input as she gave a knowing and musing smile to the fire demon as she could see he had to relinquish control; Howl would never want to come after them since he was close to getting his butt whooped, finally giving in, "Okay, okay, fine! Whatever. Not like we aren't going in a live-or-die situation, but we can go."

"Whoop, whoop!" Mei cheered in the backdrop when she heard the group agree on her proposition, raising her hands toward the sky—fist pumping with her free left hand as she shouted excitedly and nodded for everyone to follow her, "Al-right! Let's get goin', guys!"

The six-party group would begin heading back West where they had come from, with Mei giving them the green light to follow her for now, with Wukong, Macaque, and Red Son quietly walking their way toward the dragon horse girl who was eagerly making her way toward the edge of the rock wall they had jumped up—and would need a way to traverse down. Jīnsè would be the last to follow, pushing her hair of fur out of her right eye with a small puff of breath from her mouth. Yet, she wasn't alone.

MK, coincidentally enough, would be the one to wait for her to play catch up—having picked up his backpack off the forest floor and sealing it shut as it was now on his back and around his shoulders sealed tight, items and all, though it seemed he had something that he wanted to get off his chest as he was looking down at the feline goddess who then would, out of instinct, glance upward toward the mortal boy she was walking toward who had genuineness cast in his dark eyes, speaking to her in a warm tone as she stopped before him, "Hey, I didn't get a chance to say it earlier, but... thank you for helping Mei. It means more to me than you know that you went out of your way to heal her and try to protect her as you did. Y'know, you don't know this, but I've known Mei to be tough and resilient..." MK would put his arms up and strike a pose to make his point, his humor showing with how he curled his arms above his head like a bodybuilder, making Jīnsè give a light chuckle through her nose in amusem*nt as her eyes temporarily closed from happiness, before opening when MK's arms fell—his expression becoming sorrowful and downcast, his right hand rubbing his left elbow as he looked saddened. "But, when she was taken down like that, I thought... maybe... just for the briefest second... I was about to lose my bestest friend in the whole world. But you..." And then it was seen that his eyes genuinely welled with tears, hand falling from his arm, becoming sentimental as the thoughts of anxiety of seeing his friend die in his arms left a sour taste in his mouth, shaking his head to himself, ridding himself of the temporary despair before once more locking eyes with the goddess who was patiently listening to him, her features pinched in concern when he looked ready to sob to then innocent humbleness as he looked relieved and thankful, "...you saved her without a second thought. I can't imagine you know us well, but you did it, anyway. And, I mean..." MK gave a light chuckle as he admitted honestly and awkwardly with a light tinge of red appearing on his cheeks shyly, coming clean with a wave of his hands in a gesture as if weighing scales to the White Cat before him as she co*cked her head at him to the side with her ears perked forward at him curiously, "...look, I've only known you for a few days, but, um... I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need anything, and I mean anything at all, just let me know. You have done a lot for us, so... I hope I can give you something in return."

MK would then place his right hand on Jīnsè's left shoulder armory, a look of trust and promise in his eyes, before in the next instant, he would move to curl his arms around her shoulders, leaning over to hug her more diminutive form as a smile was on his mouth—his hug rather tight, but otherwise, very happy-filled and pleasant.

Jīnsè would listen quietly, allowing a graceful smile to perch on her lips, and respectfully bow her head to the mortal before her. Still, in the next, she was being hugged before she could speak—her heart melting at his compassion as she would swoop her arms around his middle, avoiding his backpack, her nose only coming to meet the middle of his chest as she rested her cheek on his heart and replied with a soft "Aww," as she gently patted MK's back with her hand, genuinely touched, "That is so kind of you, sweetheart. I will keep your virtue in mind."

It reminded Jīnsè of many things at this moment, her smile briefly fading into something sad and eyes casting darkness, of how mortals, gods, or demons, similar to MK, often said the same thing when she let her title as Divine Intervention play out, and how she knew she would continue to do what she did best—to save and keep the balance. Too often, the goddess in her early years saw people die on the battlefield she swore upon her soul she would get home; too often did she see men and women fighting, with stories of their lives written from beginning to end, slowly suffer; too often did her heart ache and slowly heal in time to see those she once knew vanish in the blink of an eye; and long had she lived and aged to know she would continue after learning lesson after lesson never to let another soul perish as long as she lived and breathed in her older times. Jīnsè pleasantly leaned back out of MK's touch—giving a humble and quick nod to him as her hands retracted to settle on her lap while he gave a nod in return to her, mutual respect shining both ways.

"Okay, but seriously, though?" MK suddenly commented out of nowhere, looking at the feline goddess with admiration in his gaze—eyes once more taking on a sparkly nature as he gushed to her, his hands curing into excited fists as he frankly hadn't a clue about one unique ability she used but enamored with it. "That fire-breathing move you did earlier was awesome! How did you do that? Where did you learn it from?"

The White Cat allowed herself to continue walking forward, her silent sorrow swiftly disappearing as if it had never been there to something more chipper and tender, motioning for MK to follow along with her with a little "Come! Come!" gesture from her right hand hanging lowly by her side, in which the young mortal would do as he was told, and Jīnsè's smile had once more returned—hilarity ensuing as she mysteriously mused, "I am not one to speak of this spell to other's ears; I swore an oath that no one but I shall know it. But, if you wish to know where I did learn it from, Ao Ji taught me when I first came to Earth to learn the ways of mortals in my earlier years from the Heavens to help me with far-range attacks."

MK felt his brain tick, the gears churning in his head, before it then suddenly clicked in his head just what the White Cat was referring to, his eyes suddenly becoming as wide as dinner plates as he shouted in shock and surprise while his jaw hit the floor, "Mei's times-a-thousand great descendent, the Dragon of the West Sea, was one of your teachers?!"

Jīnsè, amused, would only give a soft "Shh," in turn to MK's exaggerated scream, her right hand coming to her mouth and pressing her index finger to her lips to gently shush him with a low side-eye—a suggestion that, one day, she would explain later.

The six-party group had moved away from where they had been attacked by the Howler, escaping down the rock wall they had just climbed up and quickly getting down the fifteen-foot drop with relative ease with a simple leap down. Mei had to flash away in a green flame her Dragon Sword so she could at least give herself room to walk and not be weighed down by her weaponry (she could very well have put it in her backpack, but she didn't want to tear a hole in it). The group followed the trails of gold, red, and green flames that seemed to have been whipped across trees, mulberry bushes, and grass left behind by Howl—the hint of fire only seeming to flow back West where they had come from. In the fire's fit of spreading from Howl, which was a good five-minute walk away from where the group had been cornered down the pathway of grass and moss and clay, they had sprinted over in an attempt to put distance between them and the Howler, it became less and less, before stopping altogether above a deep crater that was opened in the Earth that they had avoided in the madness of sprinting with a few leadoff drops. It was a cave hidden beneath the crust of the Earth, a rotten smell, an odor drifting from deep within that was worse than the earlier Moki bones that Wukong had scoped out by pure luck. It was deep and dark below—the only light source was the open walkway from which the six-party group had come. It was likely Howl's Den, but no wolf was present, or they hoped so. The Monkey King had been the first to hop inside—two ledges, to the left and right, leading downward, something he bounced from before leaning over the edge of the right-most ledge he was seated on, his red eyes glancing around to check for any sign of danger present. But, seeing none through the walls of the cataclysm that lay before him or what was present below, he would give the thumbs up where he was to his teammates—announcing it was all clear.

It was a seventy-foot drop to the bottom of the cave system—the wind demeaning and dying down when the team entered one at a time. Wukong had to summon his nimbus cloud and carry MK on his back again down to a small island of dead grass while Macaque teleported to the bottom of the small clearing where Wukong and MK were that had been sucked out of its sunlight in a mere instant. Red Son also would appear by Macaque's left side in a swish of a torrential fire tornado that teleported him down into the cave, as well (apparently, he could do that, but he hadn't wanted to tell Macaque, as he, truthfully, often didn't use it except to make epic getaways, as he so cunningly explained to the annoyance of the shadow monkey). Jīnsè had levitated slowly downward, an aura of gold around her, making sure to have Mei by her side and hover alongside her, too, as they floated gently through the empty cavern before touching dead grass, narrowly avoiding rotting and decaying bones that had soiled itself into the dirt a long time ago. Surrounding the six-party group, from all ends, North, South, East, and West, was nothing but rolling hills of dying grass and thousands of bones decaying or still fresh from different creatures—Moki or larger that were hard to specify, perhaps deer large than life—lying and wilting in their waste. Growing around said bones were purple flowers with fractures similar to lily pads, though this time on the ground and not in the water, with a foul stench that arose like dying flesh. The sights, mixed with the eerie stillness, would have been enough to make the strongest of immortals cringe. Eyes cast around in amazement, disgust, terror, or perhaps all of the above as little light pockets filtered in from other parts of the den. MK's and Mei's jaws looked like they were going to fall off with shock as it kicked into gear that not only had they won against something that caused this much death but had seemed to dwindle the numbers of the Moki population by at least a third in one fell swoop.

"This guy was gluttonous," Macaque was the first to speak aloud, referring to Howl's torrential appetite, as his nose shrugged, and his mouth pulled into repagination as his foot kicked a stray femur bone lying at his feet over the edge of the dead island he and his team were standing on, his ears flickering some colors of purple, red, and blue as he plugged his nose by pinching the bridge of it with his right hand's fingers, shuddering.

"If this many Moki have died by that wolf's hands..." Wukong murmured, his red orbs scanning around him, his steely gaze then turning to his left as he had been spying North-East of him, his insides squeezing in uncomfortableness when he spotted a whole spine, with spare ribs attached that seemed older than time itself in a makeshift bridge that led from one dead and rustic island in this cavern to another, his teeth clenching in his mouth as he bore a glare into an unknown direction as the severity of fighting Howl earlier made his stomach crawl with butterflies. "...then we're lucky even to be alive."

His apparent input did not help those who were currently trying to calm down from seeing so many of the dead collected in one place; Mei was one of them as she poured seething daggers into the back of Wukong's head—green flames whipping from her mouth from her budding anger to his statement.

"Wukong... please... never, ever say that sentence again," Mei hissed to the Monkey King behind him and to the left of the White Cat, internally petrified beyond words at the fact that she could have been one of the many bones here in Howl's Den; she could have been stripped like all the others were, gone in the middle of the night without anyone knowing she even had disappeared.

"I'm just glad this isn't some spider pit," MK shivered—his fear also evident in the way he was quietly shaking, anxiousness clinging front and center to his shifting body as he looked incredibly tempted to get out Ruyi Jingu Bang (Wukong's staff) to arm himself in case the need arise.

"At the very least, that wolf-thing isn't here," Red Son whispered lowly to himself, taking in the sights around him; he seemed the least disturbed from everyone else, including Macaque, just disgusted from the mess considering he, as a demon, was used to this sort of scene before him and, in a friendly manner of speaking, used to relish in it.

Mei realized then and there how lucky she was to walk without becoming a ghost. She gagged from the smell—her cheeks turning a smidge green from sickness as she covered her mouth with her left hand, closing her eyes and forcing herself not to think about the horrid smell of rotting blood. As everyone was currently murmuring amongst themselves in silent commendation, Jīnsè was shifting on her paws; her nose was bum-rushed with different overwhelming smells—her worldwide view from her silver eyes making her ears rear back, a bit on edge, if a bit inwardly dizzy trying to keep herself from focusing on how much death was swimming in her scent and getting sick. Her tail twitched hesitantly across the Earth's floor, her hands reaching to clutch her satchel's strap curled on her shoulders, her sharp gaze taking in everything around her, slowly turning around on her paws, before... a soft voice called out to her from the North-East behind her, almost like a child's voice as her ears fully swiveled around her head and backward—having picked up on it, albeit it was incredibly faint unlike when MK and Wukong called for her when she woke up from being passed-out when having a rough landing on Niwen chasing after Ku:

"...ʲⁱ̄ⁿˢᵉ̀..."

"Hmm?" The White Cat murmured questioningly, her head swiveling around over her right shoulder as her ears were shifting this way and that on her head, listening carefully as she wasn't sure if it was her imagination or if she had heard it before she then asked out of the blue to her group members—catching their attention instantly as she scoped out the direction from the North-East where her name was uttered, passing by familiar faces and stopping at the edge of the spine-like bridge, "Did any of you call for me?"

"Uh... no?" MK was the first one to answer that, puzzlement adorning his features next to the Monkey King as both he and his teacher, perplexed by the sudden change in attitude from Jīnsè, shared a side-eye glance in silent conversation.

The White Cat's ears perked up, twitching as she heard it once more, like air escaping one's lungs, muffled:

"...ʲⁱ̄ⁿˢᵉ̀..."

Jīnsè caught it, the sound—something or someone was trying to reach her, the energy of Chi flowing beneath her skin and fur as her eyes took on a dimly lit glow from it, as if her inner-being was tugging her in the North-East direction, willing and calling her to answer it as she kept looking for the source, standing tip-toe on her paws, "Can you not hear it?"

Mei could be seen to co*ck her head to the side in the background, ignoring how her nose was complaining at her, blinking away pinpricked tears, trying to listen to see if she could hear anything, interested in what the White Cat was telling them but not seeming to understand. Alas, only the sound of distant howling wind could be heard whooshing outside the cavern walls, and perhaps the occasional cicada chirping here and there—but besides that? Nothing. Red Son would taper his dark eyes in suspicion on the White Cat, unsure if this was something to trust, considering that, minutes ago, the group had faced a dire, hungry wolf hellbent on gulping them all down. Who knows if that was a mimic trying to lure them in and feast on their bones? He was more wary than usual. Nevertheless, he was curious about this noise, letting out a low hum of intrigue.

Macaque, considering how sensitive his ears were, was somehow not able to even pick up on what the Celestial deity was laying down, looking at her from the back of the group with a hint of wonder in his golden orbs as they narrowed, moving away from Red Son and around unlikely members of the group as he was only a few steps behind her, pausing out of reach as he asked her, his right hand reaching forward as if to grab her though hesitating to do so, "Hear, uh— what, exactly?"

"...ʲⁱ̄ⁿˢᵉ̀..."

"That voice... It's calling..." The goddess mumbled lowly to herself in thought, taking in the noise as she was trying to pinpoint the location, before she let both her hands fall from her satchel, raising her right hand and pointing in the general direction of where it was coming from, jade bracelet jingling, somewhere upward into the cave where the wolf slept, but heading North-East as she explained to the dark monkey who was peering down at her with a layer of curiosity in his posture, soon acknowledging his presence by turning her chin over her shoulder and locking her silver eyes with his golden ones. "It is coming from that way."

The dark monkey would sliver his golden orbs upward, following Jīnsè's index finger and her implied line and up a small yellow grass embankment that went upward into the cavern—light could faintly be seen coming from that particular direction and not eternal darkness before he then returned his attention to the goddess and asked her with his smirk returning, teasing her and wanting to rile her for a moment, "Ya sure you aren't hearing things? Or did your head hit the ground too hard when you landed?"

Jīnsè cast a look at Macaque that told she was unimpressed with that statement, a frown cresting her mouth—casting a half-lidded and unmoved look as his humor wasn't helping in the moment, finding himself to be very similar to Wukong in many instances when she was around him as her right ear twitched on her head, replying with a deep sigh and slow sarcasm, "Hilarious, Shadow Man. I know what I heard. If you are to doubt me, then I suppose you won't mind waiting here with more amiable company while I search ahead."

Effectively ousting him and motioning to the skeleton piles that rolled over hills of dirt in Howl's abyss with a bow of her waist and a sweep of her arm, the White Cat suggested that the skeletons would keep him occupied while she had better things to attend to then to be picked at. Macaque would admit that her blunt tongue was something he was beginning to become accustomed to, as he was the same way and admired her straightforwardness. Still, he wouldn't even have time to reply—his golden orbs blinking at her, before he let out a light scathing laugh from her apparent offense, shaking his head to himself as he found her words hilarious but that it also stung—something he'd get back at her for later. As Macaque let his brief laughter subside, he exhaled and let out a gentle, "Now, now, hold on—," trying to explain himself to her. But, for some reason, his hand had once more hesitated to grab Jīnsè while she shook her head quietly to herself from his immaturity at the moment, barely scathing her white furry elbow as Macaque then felt his hand fall back to his chest, a frown appearing over his smirk as a part of him, truthfully, didn't take her seriously nor her word, hence his chortling, finding it all sketchy, but the other side of him curious and wanting to see if what she stated was true. Without someone to stop her, Jīnsè would—without flinching or giving it another passing glance, as she had honestly seen way worse than this—begin walking her way across the spine-like bridge; she was not a big fan of how unstable the footing was for her claws to grip it, her arms swaying outward for a moment, but still getting across anyway as she clutched her satchel tightly to her side. Eyes were now looking toward where the White Cat was going, with Macaque too stupefied to consider pausing the goddess in her tracks before heads glanced at one another—wondering if that was the safest option to do.

"Are we sure we should follow her?" Mei inquired softly, motioning with her free hand toward the back of Jīnsè, currently walking up a dirt-vested embankment crawling up to the North-East, protectively clutching her chest, shielding herself from the world as she would shift her dark orbs back and forth between her group member's faces, worried for Jīnsè's well-being. "She's not following something she shouldn't be, is she? I don't want her or us to get hurt."

MK would be the one to break the thickening tension in the air, deciding to be the one to begin following after Jīnsè—breathing out a breath of nervousness from his nostrils, curling his fists as he said as he walked past onlooking faces, despite how much he was very disgusted at the fact he would have to cross the spine bridge, putting his faith into the feline goddess, "I trust her judgment. I think she wouldn't head that way if she weren't confident. So long as we stick close, we'll be fine."

As the Monkie Kid would begin his ascent, passing by Macaque and being careful with slow baby steps across the individual columns of bones, he traversed, despite how much he was audibly retching from his feet coming in contact with, again, a whole spine, Wukong would be the one to nod in agreement to that notion, his hands settling to rest on his hips before co*cking his chin over his right shoulder and giving an enthusiastic wave for Red Son and Mei to follow, despite their adept nervousness thanks to the earlier encounter with Howl, "C'mon. Let's not keep her waiting."

Despite the begrudging response from the dragon horse girl and the fire demon, they were able to get a hustle in their step, along with Macaque with some slight encouragement from his neighboring teammates passing by him; the six-party group would begin their upward climb at a leisurely pace—having to hop over a little ditch of fresh, clear rainwater that was sitting in the Earth to then clamber up a small sloped hill that started above it after crossing the spine bridge. The air was thick with a purple-like mist from the flowers blossoming in Howl's cave, the smell enough to force Mei to plug her nose the entire time she trailed her team. Above this sloped hill, and leading out of the cave, was a tiny opening that the Howler had likely not discovered, which was at least a seven-foot jump leading to the outside world's gate. Even though there was a small grassy ledge leading up to a seven-foot barrier, no longer dead like the inside of Howl's Den, connected to the roots of a tall chunky tree that was entailing off to the North buried deep inside of the cave that would help propel them up onto the mossy ledge, one by one, person by person, each would take their turn in making a small jump to grasp the seven-foot edge of the cliff face, rather than taking the easier way, and tug themselves upward with core and arm strength to come onto the flat ground—while Red Son and Macaque, doing what they did best, merely teleported themselves to the top of it with no harm or foul. With the six-party group reconvened from the brief intermission, they would turn to walk North-East as they exited the wolf's cavern, with Jīnsè leading the way as the group passed over another slight but quaintly put-together bridge made out of wet logs and old bricker brack that had been sewn together from vines before once more coming into familiar territory of grass and moss that held the same vibe and humidity as the marsh they had come across earlier in their adventure.

It was only when they passed over the wooden bridge that a good three feet in front of them was a Moki sitting in the middle of the road—seemingly not having expected six unlikely guests to appear in its view, sitting on its back legs and seeming to be chittering something to itself. However, it was hard to tell what. The broad yellow raccoon eyes of the creature snapped to the strangers over its right shoulder, its body visibly startling, its large ears once happily perked on its head rearing back out of surprise and fright from being intruded upon before it let out a squeak of alarm and turned to get on all four haunches, twisting itself around and away from the six-party group and tearing off into the underbrush—leaping to the North and clambering onto the scraggly veins of trees digging out of the Earth's ground to the North, its small body completely vanishing from view and into the thicket where the sound of wind picking up and splatter of rain was evident. Mother Nature didn't want the storm to be over, from the looks of things, but...

The group watched in silence as the Moki ran off, unbothered by it nor willing to chase after it, despite MK, who was lingering behind the current leader of the group, Jīnsè, being the one to ask as he peeked himself around the right of the goddess and asked aloud with a quirked brow and scratching the back of his neck with his right hand, "Huh. What's his deal?" there was a dull, calming blue glow that caught everyone's attention, shining from a distance—subtle but alive. Once more, the voice, sounding more like a hushed whisper of air, resolved to echo in the air as the White Cat's ears shifted entirely forward to pick up on it, her heart leaping in her chest as the voice was louder and more present:

"...𝒥𝒾̄𝓃𝓈ℯ̀..."

Nodding to herself, she knew she wasn't hearing things as Macaque had so implied, but rather that her ears were to be blessed with it, as Jīnsè mused to everyone—deciding that she would begin her approach as all eyes were watching her with distinct curiosity, "It's incredibly close. I can hear it."

Her pads for paws pattering on the grass, she lightly jogged forward—satchel swaying near her waist as the blue tinge of warm light became brighter and more vivid, her body heavily reacting to this strange euphoric power as her tattoos began glowing its golden rhythm, a dimness coming from her body before flashing a fierce and radiant gold, slowing her pace as she had closed onto her destination in ten seconds, having to stop herself short atop a rotting tree trunk hooked to the cliffside that had been ripped from its roots halfway but had grown accustomed with the dirt. Standing dangerously close to the edge of a thirteen-foot drop with tamed balance, Jīnsè leaned herself forward and over the trunk to get a better look as the sound of wind gusts seemed to be present to the North, causing distinct branches to sway from trees, and grass to shudder—a sharp and thunderous growling "BOOM!" echoing in the far off region of Niwen to the North, along with a distinct flash of white light from lightning riveting the sky in a dangerous dance through the trees. The White Cat found her breath to take hold in her throat, her pupils thinning as she was greeted with what appeared to be a tree—but it wasn't like the ones she knew from the pines, to the sycamores, to the cherry blossoms. This tree was distinct—like a cocoon. Its roots that curled out of the dirt and trunk were a dull light blue color, with a base that curled and swept upward in a graceful arch toward her, along with the branches as the leaves were a soft pristine white as a dull blue seemed to radiate from their stems that swayed in the wind. At the base, too, was an opening—a hollow, where inside pulsed a rich orb of sky-blue magnetic, raw power that seemed almost electric. Jīnsè wasn't sure why her body seemed so reactive to it, but she had never seen anything like this before in her thousands of years of living.

Humming to herself in intrigue but wariness, the goddess took a leap of faith, a golden aura pulsating from her figure as she walked off the edge of the log and gently began to hover down to the ground with ease before her power then subsided as she came into contact with solid ground, her tattoos still alight on her figure as she took three careful and cautious steps forward toward the mystifying tree before her—unsure of what it was but enamored with its gentle simplicity, not getting too close but keeping her space smartly, stalking from afar.

"Got any idea what that may be, Jīn?" Wukong called from behind Jīnsè in curiosity and perplexion, only for him to approach her none too soon later—having taken to jumping down from the ledge with a grunt as it was clear that if he were here, the rest of the team was more than likely at the top of the cliff face where the scraggly ends of a half-baked tree lay.

Wukong would drop down into a low crouch when he had come plummeting to the Earth before quickly bouncing up onto his boots once more, waltzing over to the White Cat before settling down to the left of her, his red eyes flickering over the blue, twinkling tree with an unreadable expression and then tilting his chin down to look at his friend as she would look up at him in turn out of instinct—seeing, hearing, and smelling his presence.

"I..." Jīnsè was genuinely at a loss for words—her mouth closing and shaking her head defeatedly, unsure, eyes fluttering closed for a second and ears rearing back at the Great Sage before then opening her silver orbs and turning her features to the estranged brush before the two of them, her arms crossing over her chest as she contemplated aloud to her brother who seemed troubled by her statement, "...I do not know. I have never read, seen, or heard talk of this in any of the three realms. If the Celestial Realm knew of it, it would be documented in their extensive library. But, if something like this does exist, I can only ask: why was it never explicitly written?"

Jīnsè's words she said aloud made her realize that this tree, whatever it was, had two plausible outcomes, in that it was so ancient nobody knew of it in the Heavens, or perhaps the Heavens did know and they didn't want anyone to discover it. Either/or, the last time Jīnsè had spoken to the sky where the Heavens hid in plain sight, the gods had been dead silent when asked why they didn't give any information on Niwen. Was something keeping them quiet? Or were they so afraid of something that they didn't want to document it and let it be forgotten? Jīnsè and Wukong shared looks at the same time in silent conversation, seemingly having come to falter on the same questions they were asking themselves—sweat beading their brows to knowing how far the pendulum could swing in either direction. Then, a shuffle of cold wind could be felt near Jīnsè's paws—encroached by a spine-tingling feeling of bleak darkness to her right, as a black portal grew and gaped from the Earth. Out of it, rising like a vampire from the dead, Macaque would come out of his portal standing with his hands on his hips—ascending into view as if he had come from a raised platform, the dark Chi flowing beneath him dissipating and ebbing into purple fog that merged back into the bottoms of his feet. He settled to rest his left arm atop Jīnsè's right shoulder armory again.

However, she didn't seem to react to it as he had pulled this trick before, leaning on her as his six ears were all gleaming in unison in brilliant purples, blues, and reds, having eaves-dropped on the orange monkey's and white feline's conversation as Wukong glanced at him in annoyance across the way. At the same time, Macaque spoke with a smirk, admitting his earlier wrongdoings, "Well, this is new! Again, the White Cat speaks from the horse's mouth. I didn't see this when I passed by Niwen, but, I mean, it can't be too far-fetched seeing all the things we've come across."

"Hmm..." Jīnsè murmured lowly and thoughtfully, her focus incredibly hard-wired onto the tree—before she felt her right wrist being grabbed, causing her attention to flicker to the dark monkey who was examining her tattoos that were still glowing, tilting her wrist back and forth in his palm much to her surprise.

"Are you, ah— supposed to be glowing this much? Last I checked, 'firefly' wasn't on the list," Macaque chuckled and smirked down her way, teasing and being playful with her again as her hand was loosely examined in his palms, his thumb tracing the golden circlets of ancient tongue tattoos around her wrist bones out of interest, before it was then Jīnsè slowly, and gently, removed her wrist from his grip—seeing that, unlike himself, she was someone who didn't mind skin to skin contact.

"You and your nicknames," Jīnsè chortled lightly under her breath with a shake of her head to herself, not answering his question—finding it both endearing and slightly annoying, but bearing with it, as she had the distinct feeling the dark monkey was trying to irritate her and get a rise out of her, more than likely a jab back at her little curt wording from earlier, but not working in the slightest as she dully used her left hand's fingers to massage her right wrist.

At the same time, Macaque removed himself from resting on Jīnsè's shoulder rather slowly, rolled his eyes at himself from her antics, and shifted his golden orbs to look at the blue, dimly glowing, energy-filled tree. But the black monkey did bring up a good point. It was also during this time that the goddess would note that the voice she had heard earlier was no longer present—a part of her wondering if, maybe, the voice had been an illusion the whole time. Yet, if it had been, how had it led her and her team directly to this strange, elusive, magically enhanced object? Too many questions filled Jīnsè's mind on the matter before it had been dutifully interrupted by three mortals coming to crash the ballroom.

Red Son would be the next to hop down from the nearby tree ledge with ease—while both MK and Mei were leaning over the cliff edge and watching from above at a safe distance, both equally starry-eyed as they let out little "ooh"s and "ahh"s at the sight of this exotic tree's divine features.

"What is it?" MK would be the first to shout—asking the most apparent and out-of-nowhere questions as he shifted to sit on his hands and knees, leaning over the edge as he took in the tree, never having read nor heard any mention of it from the Monkey King, every ounce of him wanting to touch it to see if it would do something, but keeping to himself.

A fireball of flames and red swept around Red Son's figure like a torrential storm, landing on his right knee and his left fist coming to kiss the ground in equilibrium before pushing himself up to stand and brushing out the dust from his red trench coat, examining the uprooted tree at a safe distance before giving his diagnosis, explaining as he rubbed his chin with his right hand contemplatively, quirking a brow, "I can't imagine this being similar to the stone fruit in the Celestial Realm, but it gives off an energy that seems to have been infused into the essence of the tree—as if this power physically grew this tree, but I'm not sure how." As he said this, his right hand fell by his side; he took a couple of steps closer to the tree and got on a single knee before the blue roots as the wind whipped around him from nature's current storm, some little blue particles—not notably more significant than a cracker—glittered and flickered from the up-stuck roots, floating near the fire demon's legs as he then scooped down his hands, allowing the bits of magic to weave and sway between his fingers as they sparkled like pixie dust, a grin, which looked more like a sinister simper appearing on his mouth, as he muttered, "Fascinating."

Jīnsè, seeing as Red Son had gotten close with no damage done, decided to scope out the scene in further detail—ears rearing back and nose smelling the air for any sign of change, as she took one step in front of the other, her body sinking low to the ground in a suggested crouch maneuver, her pupils thinning as she worked her way to the hollow of the underbrush where the swirling mass of blue energy awaited. Something seemed to have made her go into auto drive, pausing before the tree and leaning over her waist to peer at and into the hollow, her ears twitching as she heard the faint sound and mingling of multiple voices dissecting and interweaving with one another in a hushed whisper—layered to where she could hardly distinguish one word from another. Jīnsè knew this must have been the thing calling her, but for what purpose? And why?

She was staring for... quite a long while into the deep blue pool of energy, frozen like a statue as it was hard to tell if she was breathing or not, so much so that MK had shifted his attention from the blue tree and to the White Cat—her tail the only thing waving behind her steadily despite the very blank and almost robotic look she was carrying, eyes unblinking, mouth slack in a line, a part of him becoming a smidge worried by the lack of humanity in her gaze as he asked aloud, shouting to her from above the cliff side as concern spread on his face, "Hey, Jīnsè? You okay?"

When MK had asked that, the feline goddess didn't respond, nor could she hear him, her mind absorbed by the whispers and the apparent sound of her heartbeat calmly thudding against her ribcage, getting tunnel vision. Her right hand had begun to reach out, wanting to see if she could physically touch it—her body moving once more on its own, eyes narrowing from the brightness of the light as her fingertips barely grazed the surface of the misty blue power that rolled across her digits...

Before it was then, a sudden sound wave rippled from the tree and into the ground and the sky, sending birds scattering from trees and into the atmosphere, letting out shrieks of distress, and causing a blinding wind to suddenly whip the trees and branches, and other nature-esque objects lying about. Blue magnetic energy pulsed from the center of the hollow as the White Cat, startled as she was given a sudden gust of wind, winced as her eyes closed, muzzle shrugged, ears rearing back to save them from dust, her qipao swooshing around her knees and her fur fluffing. She immediately, blinded briefly, yanked her hand back quickly to her chest, startled as the fur on her body raised. Jīnsè swiftly blinked her silver eyes open—her right leg taking a bit of a shocked step back as the energy she felt had been powerful, very unlike anything she had come across in her lifetime, as a nervous sweat drop appeared on her features, gritting her teeth. What was that? Why did it feel eerily similar to her Chi? When the shockwave had erupted into the sky and could be felt into the ground, wide-eyed looks had immediately snapped to her from her teammates—all of them pinpointing her as the potential culprit of the energy signature they received, considering her quite startled posture she was carrying.

Wukong, having sensed the sudden distribution and enigmatic energy that was a cause of red flags to him, one he also had never felt before, as he was the one to call to his friend from behind to check up on her, his expression twisted in speculation, co*cked his head to the side and waved his arms out in disbelief with a brow quirked on his features, "Hey! What happened?"

"I—I barely even touched it! Honest!" Jīnsè squeaked hurriedly to the Monkey King even if her attention was strictly in front of her, her heart jogging in her chest—the tips of her ears tinged a light pink from embarrassment and flusterment, her hands curling to her chest self-consciously.

As Jīnsè was prepared to explain herself further, nothing happened momentarily as she took another step back from the tree's hollow. But then, a hum rumbled in the ground, causing rocks to jostle and shake before, in an enigmatic burst of blue light, a swell of power rose from the tree, causing gasps and shouts to resound from the group, though lost to the wind. Sudden streams and ribbons of blue light began to escape and whisk around the goddess, shooting out in an array of light, none touching her yet. Jīnsè, realizing and feeling a sudden irk of dread, turned with swift speed her whole body around to prepare the process of running away, her right paw twisting around her body into the dirt, arms suggestive of being mid-sprint, ears back, muzzle shrugged, pupils thinned, expression crippled into desperation to put distance as her face was knitted in determination, mouth open in calling out. However, as her right hand reached out in distress, she was swallowed in a pale blue glowing ball that had encased her and crawled up her body, her hand the last thing that was enslaved in blue before she disappeared. The blue orb had snatched her in an instant, in milliseconds, to where she wouldn't have been quick enough to get away—no one would have.

"Jīn!" Wukong cried in alarm, his red eyes showing a hint of startlement as she was baked and caked in this unearthly glow before a low and menacing thrum once more escaped the tree, and along with it, hurricane-like winds that pulsed—having to shield his eyes from the brightness of blue that had swamped his friend's body from view with his right arm, grunting and clenching teeth as the sudden gust seemed to be pushing itself from the tree.

He leaned his body forward into the wind before he could go flying back, his scarf whipping around maddeningly behind him.

Mei and MK both let out sounds of shock, not having anticipated this at all as they had been rooted to the spot, crying out as well, "Jīnsè!" as they both clutched onto each other, arms wrapping around their bodies to hold one another down as they had to turn their faces away, a powerful gust of energy and wind whipping their clothing, hair, and figures as they held onto one another for dear life.

In the meantime, Red Son hadn't been prepared for it, his immediate reaction to let out a startled gasp of, "OH, sh*t!" as he had to altogether drop down onto the ground flat, holding onto the nearest roots of the tree with all the strength he could carry and hide his face in the dirt so he wouldn't accidentally lose his glasses, struggling from the energy pulses that could be felt rippling through his arms and into his skin as he clenched his teeth while his trench coat waved maddeningly.

Macaque hadn't pictured this to happen, nor had he seen this being plausible—his jaw slightly parting and golden orbs widening as Jīnsè had been encased in blue before, like Wukong, he shielded his face with both of his arms in an "X" and was battered with wind, his quail feather on his head swimming wildly behind him and leaning forward so he wouldn't fall over, gritting his jaw tightly together as he could barely make out anything in the light, his voice getting carried into the wind, barely audible over its roar as he shouted for her, "Jīnsè!"

In the next instance, Jīnsè made noises like an animal pinned in a cage. Her white tail poofed to the nth degree as she was seen to float from the ground slowly in the blue ball of light—her arms and legs waving about to steady herself upright as she defied gravity, an unknown wind curling around her figure without using her powers as she panicked for a moment, her satchel also levitating from her body, tattoos glowing so brightly that she almost became blind from it.

Grunting as her silver eyes narrowed, she demanded aloud as she was swimming in a thicket of overwhelming energy similar to her own Chi, "What's going on?!" as her whole body became a beacon for this energy as it was seen to engorge itself into her figure, absorbing it.

The tendrils of blue swam to and fro in her vision before, in a swift dive to Jīnsè, began pummeling itself into her chest where a golden glow had suddenly originated where her heart would be, as she could feel the wriggling energy flow through her veins—her body flooded with so much of it it might have been overwhelming for the average viewer. Jīnsè, gritting her teeth, let out a blood-curdling scream of pain that her team couldn't hear escape her as she felt like, for a second, she was going to die with how much her body was taking. It felt like roaring fire in her body, but her abilities swiftly adapted to it. As her hands were curled into fists, eyes closed shut to bear with it, chin tilted to the sky, her veins became visible on her face. Her veins pulsated a glowing and shimmering blue that began to meld and churn into a deep gold color of her power, before fading from view back into her body.

As the final last lick of energy seeped itself into Jīnsè'a pores in the glowing blue ball that surrounded her, the tendrils disappearing into the fray and her figure, a massive shockwave of energy rippled from the feline in a small pocket in the air—her tattoos dulling to null and the blue glow zapped out of existence in an instant. The wind stopped, the glow of blue shattering into space to show the White Cat, body caught mid-air, as her eyes flashed a multitude of colors of gold, blue, and white, and then fading for a moment as she hovered in the air for her team to finally get a good picture of her, arms and legs spread out to balance herself, hands balled, baring fangs, completely fine but caught in a moment in time as her breath looked like they had been punched from her lungs... When the wind had died down and stopped, reassurance to not get knocked over from it took hold, heads turned and raised, arms lowered, and eyes had cast themselves upward to the top of the tree where Jīnsè was caught like a bird mid-flight.

Mei, seeing as this was the single person to save her life, her grip no longer solidified to holding onto her best friend who was also shell-shocked to see Jīnsè, somehow, fine despite all the unwanted attention they got earlier from a killer wolf, leaned herself forward, arms gripping the edge of the log on the cliff face her and MK were sitting on, (MK currently looked like he had seen a ghost with how pale he became, but just as stressed as Mei was) crying out with fervor, "JĪNSÈ!"

Red Son, blinking sluggishly from having had his entire body almost stripped of his flesh from the strength gifted to him by Mother Nature, shaking his head to himself drowsily as he shook the numbness and dizziness from his brain, flickered his dark eyes upward.

While his bed of hair was slightly messy and his opticals crooked on the edge of his nose, his hand falling away from the roots of the blue tree, palms now evidently scabbed, he saw the way that the White Cat's body looked loose and dangly, and put two-and-two together as he knew what was going to happen—bellowing to both Macaque and Wukong, as he wouldn't be quick enough to do it laying down, "SHE'S GONNA FALL! CATCH HER, YOU SIMIANS!"

The second the fire demon said that both Macaque and Wukong snapped their attention to him—the black monkey unsure of what he was looking at with arms still up protectively, implying he wanted not to be involved in another freak accident or be blamed for it, a stern glare on his features and sweat on his features, to the orange monkey who looked like he wasn't sure if he should hit the panic button or be even more worried that his sister had absorbed god-knows-what and might have the plausibility of dying (something he didn't want to happen; he had lost one too many people in the past from time and age, and he would be damned if he was going to lose another now), his face indicative of worry. True to Red Son's word, Jīnsè's eyes visibly dulled and lost light—slumping forward with no control with a sharp exhale, hands unclenching, intimidating expression faltering, arms loosely hanging as her figure went limp, rag dolling, as one second she was hovering and the next she began to plummet to the ground.

When both monkeys took notice of it, their golden eyes reflecting the falling and knocked-out figure of the goddess, the Great Sage would be the one to react—his figure radiating a golden aura immediately as his features set in a glower, letting out a roar as, in a hyper beam and flash that made him move so quick the naked eye couldn't catch his figure, he put on a burst of speed, sprinting with only three steps as he quickly leaped and skidded upward to the right into the air and effortlessly caught Jīnsè in his arms bridal style, almost getting whacked from her satchel but avoiding it, his grip tightening on her. Swiftly, he landed on the ground, his boots skidding and kicking up dust and dirt backward, leaning forward and putting on a halt as the goddess's head was leaning backward and slinking to the floor—head lolled and arms slack, barely breathing as Wukong held her up with such care it was hard to imagine him being the muscle of the group. Jīnsè looked much smaller than she already was when held in his embrace—the Monkey King's golden orbs flickering over Jīnsè's lifeless body.

Despite the energy the orange simian could feel pulsing in her body, the raw power something that almost forced him to set her down because of the shocks he was receiving in his palms, his expression one of wonder for a moment as the energy she now carried was something he wasn't remotely familiar with nor knew, he switched up his looks, as he then became super anxious, shaking the White Cat a little in his arms as he called out to her closed-eyed knocked out state, "Jīnsè? Jīnsè! Can you hear me?"

"Not again!" MK cried, shaking his head, his hands going to his hair and tugging at the strands of brown hair in distress being held up by his red band around his forehead—going to immediately swing his legs around his body, his hands balancing himself out before throwing himself over the slightly steep drop down to where the rest of the team was and kissing the ground below in his knees.

MK slightly stumbled over himself when he had come landing but quickly came to stand as he sprinted over to the Monkey King, who looked distraught, as he planted his right arm on Jīnsè's right shoulder armory and jostled it while she flopped aimlessly left and right, his dark eyes flickering in dismay over her figure. "Jīnsè! Jīn! Wake up!"

"Why does she keep passing out?!" Red Son groaned in defeat, astonished that in the past couple of hours, Jīnsè had managed to wind herself into the same predicament, albeit it wasn't her fault, and no one anticipated it, throwing his hands up in front of him on the ground in exasperation.

Yet he picked himself up, pushing his hands onto the dirt on his knees—fixing his monocles on his face with his hands as he would meander himself up to stand, jogging around the stuck-up roots of the tree that had once contained blue primordial power and nudging himself next to MK with puzzlement in his knitted brows, the sight of Jīnsè unable to rouse herself from slumber not a welcoming sight. Seeing her motionless made his heart sink. 'This isn't good...' Red Son thought, swallowing the dry knot building in his throat.

Mei followed suit after MK, throwing her legs out from underneath her and pushing herself off of the rotted log lodged itself into the side of the cliff face, dropping like a stone as she landed in a deep crouch on both of her legs on lower ground, before shakily running over, almost tripping herself over one of the many roots of the tree Jīnsè had been swarmed by in blue energy, eyes rippled with glassiness as she looked over the goddess's face and cried out, as she would also go to grasp the goddess's cheeks in her hands and shake her lifeless body, "No, no, no! Don't take a cat nap now! Wake up, Jīnsè! Wake up!"

Macaque, standing far off in the backdrop, hadn't a reason to approach, nor did he want to—his golden orbs watching as his team swarmed the goddess (he had a feeling she would be fine; he didn't have a reason to panic unthinkingly), before turning his gaze to the tree... where the hollow once filled with blue energy had been now left sorely empty and without an ounce of what had once been. It had all been absorbed into Jīnsè's body—he knew it well, they all did, considering the obvious stuck out like a sore thumb, but never had he thought a Chi goddess could do something like that. He let out a noise from his throat, his features shifting to intrigue and curiosity but remaining hardened as he turned back his attention to the passed out Jīnsè lying in her sleepy-time state in Wukong's arms. Macaque had read the stories on her, heard words whispered around this divine being who could manipulate the power of Chi to her will, but he finally saw to himself the raw magnification that came with such a bold title—tense of what he had witnessed, but not necessarily put off—his interest further growing on the strange and complex workings of the goddess.

Macaque whispered under his breath, his golden orbs glancing over Jīnsè's face—clenching his teeth and his fists curling, growling in his throat as he asked himself:

"Just... what are you?"

Will of the Wisps - Chapter 7 - will_of_the_wisps (2024)

Chapter Text

FAQs

Where is Veral in Baur's Reach? ›