‘What am I doing?’ Greta thought as she climbed towards the Queen’s head. She told herself many times to cling to the monster, hide until it was safe for her to climb down. But her body moved without her consent. She recovered the dirk that was stuck at the beast’s open wound. Unlike when she cut its legs, the beast actually bled from the wound in the stomach.

Perhaps that was the reason the monster’s whole body was covered in thorns and vines. No matter how much Greta tried to cut her way towards the Queen’s body, the vines and mushrooms always intercepted her. ‘Who could’ve hurt this monster so bad?’ she found herself thinking.

The vines became unusually slippery the closer she got to the Queen’s shoulders. They almost seemed like they were avoiding her, letting her grab on sharp thorns. Despite all the pain and the bleeding, Greta still moved forward. ‘What am I doing?’ she kept asking as her hands found new thorns to hang onto. ‘Poor Otis…’

She tried to push that memory away, but it kept flashing back in her mind. No matter how strong one could be, witnessing a friend reduced to sinew soup was bound to leave a scar. ‘That bastard!’ she gritted her teeth and climbed on, determined to see this hunt through. She was angry, mainly at the man that brought them into this unfair fight.

She was even angrier that he stupidly died in front of her. There was nobody she could direct her anger at but the Queen. ‘It’s kill or die weapon in hand Greta!’ she mentally repeated, like a prayer. She was getting close to the beast’s head. The monster had already concluded its fight with them. It was walking somewhere. Greta couldn’t tell where, with all the swinging and dangling she was subjected to.

Rays of sunlight hit her face as she finally reached the monster’s left shoulder. She looked at the Queen in utter disgust. The Queen’s square neck held the most hideous head Greta had ever seen. Circular muscle tissues, much like an anus, contracted and retracted as the beast breathed. A dark squishy liquid slid from each orifice. From time to time, she could see one of its barbed tongues lash out from the holes at a giant bird and swallow it. The hole from which the tongue came would open up to accommodate whatever the beast caught.

Greta was devising a plan of attack when the beast came to a complete halt. It suddenly started stomping its feet furiously. Greta almost lost her balance and fell off to her death like Cane did. She held on to thorns again. The pain she experienced only allowed her to remember her anger. She held on with both hands and started climbing again.

She hadn’t fallen far. She would be by the monster’s neck in no time. But then what to do?

The monster was still stomping on the ground when Greta felt like she had dropped in altitude. She looked down to see the beast on its knees. Its arms were extended towards the rapidly approaching ground. ‘Oh, sh-‘ the impact knocked the poor woman off the beast’s shoulder, onto the ground. She fell on her back, didn’t feel any pain. She immediately passed out as air forcefully exited her body.

“Ya think that could kill me?” Cane shouted as he tore through the Queen’s back. He was holding Greta’s spear, used it as a climbing accessory. “Ya got bones you freaky bitch!” he shouted as he thrust his spear on the beast’s back. The force he applied to each thrust cut through vines and thorns and reached the flesh. The Queen howled and lashed its tongues in all directions. Alas, they were not long enough to reach the big bear.

“Scream all ya want,” he shouted as he kept climbing. “I’ll kill ya, just wait.”

Cane had managed to break the Queen’s legs. As he attempted to climb back up, the beast was trying to repel him in all possible ways. When she tried to roll on her back, the big bear punched it so hard he plastered the monster to the ground. He had become insanely strong. He couldn’t believe it himself.

As the giant mushroom covered creature wiggled in the ground, Cane reached the back of its head. It looked like a mushroom cap. It had scales, harder than steel. The barbed tongues moved in the air like snakes, looking for the intruder. Cane clutched the spear on one hand then landed a heavy punch on the beast’s head. The hard scales clicked as they came in touch with each other. The beast’s hideous face hit the ground then bounced off of it.

“How’d ya like that?” Cane landed another punch, then another. Queen Mushroom wailed as the successive punches drilled her head in the ground. The barbed tongues tried to reach the big bear. Every time they got close, Cane would punch the beast one more time. It felt like he had found the monster’s blind spot.

‘Fucking scales,” he thought as he punched even harder. ‘Come off already!’

With two broken legs, the colossus couldn’t get up. But it still had some fight left in it. As Cane was ready to land another punch, the Queen’s head performed a hundred and eighty degree turn. The snake-like barbed tongues were all retracted. Liquid still oozed out of the creature’s orifices.

‘What the-‘

Cane didn’t have time to process the shock. As soon as the monster turned its head towards him, all its disgusting holes opened up at once. The barbed whips lashed out at the big bear and hit him right in the chest. Cane was propelled in the air then landed among vines and thorns.

Upon landing, he inspected his body to find that there were no apparent injuries. ‘How the hell am I still alive?’ was the thought that recurred as he tried to stand up. But the Queen wasn’t finished with the big bear yet. The vines and thorns moved and enveloped the man’s limbs. He was tied up to the beast’s back. The plants tightened around his arms and legs, threatening to break his bones.

They started to creep towards his torso, and around his neck. ‘Move ya bastards!’ he urged his arms. The more he struggled, the tighter the binds became. In a matter of seconds, he’d choke to death as the thorns break through skin and flesh, he estimated. ‘If you find yourself in a tight spot, close your eyes and breathe, calmly,’ Zedd’s voice resonated in his head. Black Eyes didn’t send him to fight that colossus unprepared.

The big bear, noticing the dire situation he was in, forced his eyes shut then started breathing slowly. With each breath in, his muscles would relax and the vines would restrain him even tighter. He knew he’d die in seconds, but Zedd never failed him. He had to do as he was told.

By the tenth breath, the vines had covered his body and thorns enveloped his throat. The Queen was about to order her mushrooms to release their spores when she felt her grip on Cane getting looser. The monster struggled and willed its vines to coil faster and hold the man down but to no avail.

Then Queen Mushroom howled and wailed again. Her screams reached Ulmir’s Courtyard. Cane stood up, covered in Ivy and thorns.

Beneath the dangerous plants, the big bear’s body glowed bright red. It looked like all the veins in his body lit up. He thrust the spear he still had in hand at the monster’s body then a large hole appeared. “Ya can’t kill me!” the big bear shouted, his voice muffled by all the plants that covered him.

Like a hostile parasite, Cane got inside the beast’s body, through the hole he’d just created. The beast rolled left and right. Tall Trees shook and with them, the entire Garden shook. It felt like an earthquake had just hit the area.

In an altar near the border between Ulmir’s Garden and the Canyon Labyrinth, an old man looked up. “This year’s definitely troublesome,” he said in a worried tone. “First someone destroys the entire Faery Plains, and now this…”

Closer to the fight scene, two warriors were struggling to keep their monster atop their made up wooden cart. “What the fuck is happening?” one of them shouted, trying to keep the cart steady. “We gotta hurry,” the other replied. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

All around the Garden, the Queen’s wails signaled doom to the hunters. Those who had already offered a monster at the Altar listened to the beast scream from the Courtyard. ‘Someone’s got a Fragment over there.’ A man sat upon an ivory chair overlooking the Courtyard from a high tower. His herculean body looked small as he sat on a God’s Throne. ‘The day has come when someone’s attempted to bring down the Queen. What to do?’ He scratched his white hair as the Queen’s screams reached their peak. ‘She’s in trouble, and so am I…’

Cane found his way inside the beast’s body. His body glowed red. Under his skin, thick red lines travelled from his abdomen to every nerve he had. His strength and reflexes were enhanced. He slashed with the spear, creating large holes inside the Queen.

He was digging a tunnel, from the Queen’s back to her belly. No one could survive such an injury, not even a colossus. With each thrust, a strong shockwave would follow and create a hole large enough for Cane to walk through. When the Queen stopped screaming, Cane was staring at the ground.

With a heavy sigh, Cane looked up. ‘Time to climb up again.’ His body was still glowing red. Even his eyes reddened, allowing him to see the beast’s Essence conduits. Their violet color was fading.

‘Essence is the power that feeds the soul. Every living being has one,’ Zedd’s voice resonated in his head as he climbed up.

With the Queen dead, lying on her stomach, Cane had to climb back up to whence he came from. He couldn’t risk using more Essence. He was reaching his limit, he could feel it. ‘If you feel your arms and legs getting heavier, it must mean you’ve exerted your Essence.’

Black Eyes was right. He’d overdone it. But it got the job done. He needed to find a place to sit and meditate. At least that would restore his Essence Flow from its berserk state. He’d think of recovering the wasted energy after meeting Zedd.

‘Speak of the devil!’ Cane thought when he finished his ascension.

Zedd was sitting next to the tunnel, playing with a pear. He’d throw the fruit in the air, then recover it using some invisible thread. He’d toss it again then playfully rotate the fruit midair with his threads.

“How was your first real hunt?” Black Eyes asked as he extended his arm to help the big bear up.

“I gotta be honest with ya.” Cane was panting as he finally climbed out of the hole he’d created. “It was fun!”

Zedd heartily laughed then patted the man in the back. “Life isn’t worth living if there’s no fun.”

“I thought I was a goner, but then I remembered that breathing thing ya told me,” Cane said as he struggled to keep his breath calm.

“You’ll need to apply it now friend. Or you might faint,” Zedd retorted. “Sit, your conduits will pop if you don’t calm your Essence distribution.”

Black Eyes guided the big bear through the process. After fifteen minutes, the bright red color disappeared and Cane was back to normal. “How’re we s’posed to get this thing to the altar?” he asked after opening his eyes.

“Your mind wasn’t clear,” Zedd reproached. “Don’t let your emotions get the better of you. Control your flow, keep the supply steady or you’d risk imploding. It’s alright for now. But in serious fights, it’s the line that separates life and death.”

“Serious fights?” Cane jumped up, his mouth agape. “I nearly lost m’life there. What’s a serious fight for ya?”

“Well-”

“Yeh know what? Forget it. I don’t think I wanna know.”

“Whatever,” Black Eyes waved a hand in the air dismissively. “I’ve got the Mobeel ready for transportation.”

“That small thing barely holds six people in,” the big bear argued.

“Do you know who made that small thing?” Zedd asked. His black eyes fixed the big bear. He was slightly grinning, that condescending smile slightly irritated Cane.

“Why should I care?” he defiantly asked.

Zedd heavily sighed. “I’d better show you.” He stood up then approached the edge of the Queen’s body. “Ya don’t like lessons anyway,” he said before jumping off, playfully imitating the big bear.

Cane followed his friend and jumped down. He was no longer afraid of such leaps. His body had grown in strength, speed and resistance. ‘I really like this new me,’ he thought as he landed without difficulty.

“This is the Mobeel.” Zedd was pointing towards a large metallic rectangle. It was larger than the Queen and even longer. It was made of numerous carts, linked together by silver bolts.

“Wut?”

“Rimbaldi, the mad genius, is behind this incredible invention,” Zedd said with a wide smile. “It’s called memory alloy, a rare type of metal that’s rumored to stem from shooting stars. Each platform is linked to another by a flexible bolt. You’d think they’re rigid, but I’ve got to tell you, they bend in impossible angles.”

“How’s that gonna help?” the big bear asked.

“It’ll help in sharp turns, especially when we need to navigate the thickening trees near the Altar. Now, shall we go?”

“What about her?” Cane pointed at an injured woman. Her clothes were but tatters. She seemed to have lost a lot of blood, perhaps even poisoned.

“She’s dead, or nearly there. What about her?” Zedd retorted.

“They can save ‘er there, right?”

Black Eyes let out a heavy sigh, walked towards the woman then carried her over his shoulder. “Your good heart will be your end Cane.”

They walked in silence as Zedd oriented the Mobeel towards the Altar of Offering.

“How’d he get his hands on it? This alloy,” Cane asked after a while

“I’m afraid explaining will just be a long boring lesson for you friend. You’ll see it for yourself anyway, soon as we get out of here and reach the empire.”

“Yer still willing ta fight those bastards eh?” the big bear asked.

“My will never faded,” Zedd answered. “Every day, my will gets stronger and stronger!”

“And you say the empire is stronger than these monsters.”

“Cane,” Zedd addressed the big bear in all seriousness. “Where’s this going?”

“I don’t think I wanna fight ‘em with ya,” Cane answered.

“Suit yourself.” The big bear could hear disappointment in Zedd’s tone. “We’ll speak of this after the Hunt is over. Now would you carry this person you wanted to save? I’ve got a machine to handle!”