[se] knee deep in forest rivers

Deimos “No one said it had to be magic.” A simple alteration in walls, a hidden floor, a means to evasion rather than the easier measures of teleportation, that wouldn’t have worked anyway. “There are other ways.” He pointed his gaze on Sunjata again, waiting to see if anything concocted in the Flood’s brain, before shrugging his shoulders, and addressing the other portions in the matter. “And if it does not go well?” Was there a contingency plan in place? His attention wandered, back to the bubbles, Belial hovering nearby and craving to give chase. His silent command ensured the peryton wouldn’t, but his gaze narrowed again at the sight of a fin appearing along the surface, then bobbing back down. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps something. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

“Well, yeah, though if her magic works within it, I don’t think traditional means would get me away fast enough for her to not find out.” And it would be a certain death sentence if that were the case. Either way, Sunjata’s jaw works slightly, head tilting as he considers the implications. If it doesn’t go well, well at least he’s tried.

He scrunches his nose a little but heaves a small sigh. “I hope that my immortality works in the Refuge.” He admits quietly, tilting his attention toward the fin that appears and disappears. “I have already talked with Hotaru about it. Again, I don’t intend on it going that poorly.” Stepping closer to the edge to peer down at it with Petronella’s rapt attention on the fin again, Sunjata exhales a soft sigh.

SUNJATA

Deimos It all depended on a majority of factors left out of these complexities. While they knew some portions of her power, given how she’d countered Remi handedly, the others were lost amidst the confusion, turmoil, and growing apprehensions. That the Flood was willing to put himself in the line of fire was admirable, if not incredibly foolish, and Deimos fought the urge to wrinkle his nose at everything else culminating. “Going to let it all prevail on hope, then?” He arched his brow at immortality but didn’t question it; it’d been a long standing notion with demigods and potency. But Deimos snapped his jaw shut when the notice about Hotaru was cast, for it would’ve been his next inquiry – because gods knew the Valkyrie wouldn’t have been able to stand another loss and demise. The finned animal burst from the surface before he could acknowledge anything else – his eyes going straight towards the dolphin brimming in a burst of speed and water. What once was likely plentiful pink and a recognizable encantado, had altered and morphed into Stygian decrees. It didn’t seem to pay them much mind – for it disappeared beneath the surface again, shortly thereafter. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

“Unfortunately, hope is what’s left in the face of uncertainty.” He admits, nose wrinkling just as Deimos fights his urge to. But he tries to alleviate any cause of concern for Hotaru being involved – already knowing the strife between them is a result of his impulsiveness. “But the people of King’s End know to avoid the Refuge and Hotaru knows what the plan is. Other than that, I can only hope it goes smoothly.” All the ducks in a row, lingering on the hope he makes it out of there with his life.

Watching the fin rise and fall again, his face falls with a sigh to see the pink of the encantado be changed into the dark, purple-esque look that the sky now bolstered in the sunset, a fact that has Sunjata’s stomach churning with discomfort. “Do we want to take out this one too?” Sunjata asks, already utilizing his magic to thread through the waves to try and pinpoint where the dolphin was in case Deimos agreed, able to latch on and bring it to the surface.

SUNJATA

Deimos Deimos could argue that point, but they’d just be going around in circles – and Sunjata had already admitted there was nothing else to the plan. With Ru out of harm’s way, and his concern not laden with the Flood, he’d simply have to surmise it all with a nod, and the certainty he had. “I will let Halo know of avoiding it, regardless,” which was the only part he could contribute at this juncture. “Good luck,” was another thing managed, on a deep rumble, eyes already cast to the scene unfolding. It was disappointing to see another species affected – leaving him to wonder just how many had been encompassed by this mysterious, vague, and incriminating void – but in truth, they likely shouldn’t have left it to remain settled amidst the Greatwood. Not when others could be preyed upon. Not when the potential for contamination and spread of infection was so paramount. “We should,” he agreed, the wrinkle to his nose appearing now. And within an instant, he’d utilized his incantations too, peeling the water away from the edges, revealing the creature as Sunjata simultaneously brought it to the surface – but it wasn’t very happy about the sudden predicament. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

“Thanks.” Sunjata murmurs, taking it for what it was. A boon of luck in the face of everything where hope is the only thing they can work off of. It’s enough that Sunjata feels a little less worried about everything for the moment that he can focus on utilizing his magic through the water as he poses his question to the Sword.

The second that the agreement comes and Deimos is moving the water away from the edges, Sunjata’s magic taps into the water, crafting those binds of clear, spinning ropes of water that drag the encantado to the surface, dragging it out from the water onto the shore to have a better shot at trying to take the creature out without letting anything seep back into the river.

SUNJATA

Deimos The ropes bound once more, but the void dolphin thrashed immediately in its threshold – maybe a bit more intelligent compared to the river star. Deimos fixed his gaze on the demonic creature, inwardly shaking his head at how many had succumbed or been contaminated, and pondering how many more would be affected by the unknown nuances. For now, perhaps it didn’t matter. The culling was a current necessity, as much as it might have pained all of them. His incantations rose, altering the shape of the contorted water back into icy shards. While Belial watched and Zuriel’s eyes narrowed, his actions were of complete and utter silence and stillness, the enchantments warping and shifting under his command. From there, they again clattered into icy shards, pinpointing on the creature. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

The encantado may be more intelligent than the river star had been, but Sunjata’s water magic holds strong – dragging it onto the beach and away from leeching the rest of its terrible voidness into the waters. He can think about the feelings regarding it later – especially the fact that Deimos and him are the ones taking it out when the last time they dealt with encantados was the time he’d gotten struck by lightning.

He grits his jaw and holds tight as the magic continues to bind through the thrashing, watching as Deimos’ water turns to ice and watches as it starts to pierce into the rubbery flesh of the creature. With the distance far enough away from the two of them to not get them wet this time, Sunjata pairs it with his own little shards – only instead of it being ice like Deimos’, rain falls again from above, cutting into the creature alongside the Sword’s attacks.

SUNJATA

Deimos Sunjata could likely consider himself lucky that Deimos had no intentions of catering to any creation of lightning rods, nor summoning storms for the sheer notion of it. Instead, his mind was solely on destruction upon the void-creature, and unfortunately, the machinations behind how many had likely been construed into just the same thing: innocent creatures shifted and churned into this. The dolphin screeched and bit at the strands, but it didn’t seem to be of much use. Perhaps it was also calling brethren for support, but the Sword wanted to ensure there’d be no point in the matter. More shards persisted and lifted through the watery haze, and alongside the piercing rain, the encantando didn’t have much else to give but half-hearted missives and screeches. Eventually, those too died away, and Deimos’ gaze settled upon the shore, another sigh flickering through the mist and midst. “That should be enough,” came with some level of assurance to the Flood. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

Their attacks lay siege onto the corrupted encantado, something that Sunjata will deal with the feelings of later. Right now, to ensure that there’s no potential for it to continue to infect the waters of the Greatwood is more of the priority, even if his jaw feathers to hear it call out perhaps in the attempts to call others.

Regardless, the two of them make quick work, and before long the encantado can no longer rampage the waters of the woodland region, and he dismisses his rain and ropes of water when the assurance comes through from Deimos. Heaving a sigh, one that Petronella presses her face into the side of his head to help alleviate the discomfort churning in his gut, he stares down at it. “Will you burn it like the last?” He assumes so, but he has to ask to make sure. His own magic harboring little of the destructive properties that fire held.

SUNJATA

Deimos The trepidation only seemed to stay at bay for so long, because now he could feel it returning amidst his spine, a turmoil in the range of his bones. For while he’d always hunted, always been a predator, someone rapacious and ready, maiming things over and over again with no end in sight no longer provided the same deliverance as it might have years or lifetimes before. Now they were staring down potential for neverending vitriol against creatures who had no control over it, and he didn’t know how much longer it would be until humans were corrupted in the same vein. “Yes,” he finally answered, beginning to summon the flames, enshrouding the dolphin in its vicious, unwinding haze. “Since we do not know how it is spread, I do not want anything else potentially afflicted.” By either the meat, or the spread of its existence into water or soil. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

The tension in Sunjata’s shoulders starts to soothe when Deimos answers and he can see the sparks of flames begin. He breathes a soft sigh of relief, stepping back and returning to scratch Petronella while he watches, both of the two men’s frames alight with the fire that chars and burns the dolphin. “That’s good.” Sunjata murmurs, wondering if perhaps he should invest asking Frey for something similar, despite his magics being wholly water oriented.

Instead of burning to dust, Sunjata’s focused on an overwhelming sense of drowning, which does not bode well with trying to rid the land of something that could potentially harm it.

SUNJATA

Deimos Before long, the inferno contorted and erupted, taking everything in its path with it. Consumed and devoured just as the river star had been, the dolphin was soon nothing more than ash and dust, and even thereafter, cast aside in a blinding wind summoned from his veins. When nothing else seemed to be forthcoming, he simply gave a nod, not intending to wait for another demonic force to make its way through the waters. Zuriel snorted something within their bond, and Deimos fought off the urge to roll his eyes in her direction. Instead, he attempted to forge the niceties, whatever remained within grudges and pettiness. Somehow it was without grinding teeth and clenched jaws. “Let me know if you need any hunting parties in King’s End.” Especially if everywhere else was getting overrun; it seemed likely just the same would happen in the wide open fields. From there, he angled his bag of holding across his shoulder again, a signal of imminent departure. But he’d await some verdict or an answer – gaze flickering the Flood’s way, briefly. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

better get to diggin' while my body's getting cold.
i keep tryna fight it so just promise when i go, you'll bury me low

Despite the kindness that Deimos offers, Sunjata knows that the Sword would absolutely rather be doing anything else than be talking with him. So as the ash melts away into nothing in the wind, Sunjata hearing the offer nods quietly for a moment, taking it for what it was. Not a new start, of course, for the Flood had run out of those long ago. Instead, playing nice, as Sunjata found many doing with him these days. “Of course. Thank you.” He offers instead, moving to collect his things as well.

Once they’re all set, he looks back toward Deimos once and his companions briefly. “Travel safe.” he says instead of the multitude of other things he could try to say – convincing him of how different he was now, how he fully intended to love and protect Hotaru as she deserved. All of it, kept bottled up inside, to be told to the Valkyrie the second he got back home to King’s End.

With that, Sunjata steps away, leaving Deimos in the woods while he wanders toward a clearing, shifts into the dark draconic shift of his with Petronella nestled safely in clutches with his bag, taking to the sky to head home.

SUNJATA