The night had been silent and calm before Elissa was awoken by Faan's shrill scream.

“SOMEONE’S IN THE GLADE!” She heard him scream with his ethereal voice, reaching far into her dreams and mind.

She jumped out of bed, put on shoes and grabbed her staff before even realizing what he had said. “WHAT? WHO?”

“The spirits aren’t saying much, but it’s big. REALLY BIG.”

She slammed the door open and poked her staff at Garrett to wake him up, then at Nannade’s hammock. But she didn’t feel anything in there.

Nannade wasn’t in the hammock.

“What’s going on?” Garrett asked confused.

“There’s an intruder in the Glade and Nannade’s gone!”

“So? Nannade’s been to the Glade plenty of times. Can’t she be there by herself suddenly?”

Elissa tapped his head with her staff. “No, Nannade’s not the intruder, but someone else. A big one. We need to get there.”

He put on his pants, boots, and belt with the knives. Then he followed her outside.

As Elissa, Faan and Garrett dashed up the path around the slopes to the Glade, the forest was abuzz with panic. Many spirits were in uproar. They were furious, scared. They cried for help and screamed at an unseen intruder, not knowing whether to attack or flee. Even Garrett seemed to notice something.

“This air smells of fear and anger. What the taff is happening?”

“I don’t know, but the girl must have drawn something through the stream of life force. Something large from far away.” she was getting short of breath.

Garrett overtook her and went on ahead.

Elissa called out to him. “STOP! Whatever it is you can’t handle it alone.”

He got back to her and helped her along. “Talk less, run more!”

The forest was growing more and more quiet, as animals and spirits fled from the Glade. Then, a droning took over the soundscape. A droning of both mundane and ethereal nature. They came closer to its source, closer to the Glade.

They arrived at the bridge across the crevice and there, on the stone block altar, was Nannade. She was in her undergarments, kneeling, arms raised up to the open sky. Runes written in blood covered her, the altar and even the stone slab. A presence was with her. An immense amount of power flowed from the Glade, even the trees were shaking in fear. Elissa took the lead and strode onto the Glade. “NANNADE!” The girl reacted slowly but with confidence. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! WHAT IS THIS?”

The Glade felt not like a lively pond of energies, but a deafening waterfall, all reverberating away from its centre: Nannade – and whatever presence was there with her. As if a dam had been broken, the girl was wreathed in this rawness, this feeling of unbound force. The girl looked at Elissa and that’s when a realization hit her.

Elissa was at the edge of the large stone slab, but she was close enough to see Nannade’s eyes. And they were not golden like the grain in late summer anymore. They were green, like fresh leaves in spring. Her face was different, too. And a presence emerged from her body, coiling around her and slithering across her with every movement of her muscles. Black as night, cloaked in smoke and fog, with scales glistening like stars. A long cut ran down her Nannade’s forearm. She opened her lips to a big toothy smile, then she stood up and walked towards Elissa.

Faan jumped from Elissa’s shoulder and moved in the girl’s path.

“This does not concern either of you two.” Nannade hissed.

A puff of blue smoke exploded around Faan and from it he emerged as a lion with flowing mane and blinking claws. “I can’t let you pass, kitten!” He stood up on his hind legs in an attempt to intimidate her, but she simply ducked under his swiping paws and was on her path directly towards Garrett. When Faan tried to pounce her from behind, the presence that coiled around Nannade lashed out, with ethereal fangs it bit the attacker. Faan screamed up, losing all composure as he seemed to burst with pain.

A sharp pain Elissa's mind like a searing whip striking a metal plate, leaving a high-pitched ringing and blistering lash in her mind. Her legs gave in and the voiceless screaming reverberated throughout her thoughts. “WHAT DID YOU DO? GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!” she pulled her hair as if she hoped to get the pain out of there. She heard Nannade walk on towards Garrett.

Elissa crawled over to Faan, he had reverted back to his original form and was still screaming and squirming on the ground. She managed to sit up and cradled him, held him close to her chest. His claws dug deep in her skin and somehow, the very real pain washed the ethereal one away, anchored Elissa back in reality. The haze retreated and she saw Garrett and Nannade – or whatever the girl now was – locked in combat. Garrett had drawn two knives while Nannade was fighting bare-clawed. She was fast, faster than during any of the sparring matches Elissa ever observed. She swayed and flexed out of the path of Garrett’s blades as if she saw them coming before he planned them. Her spine seemed to be a rope the way it bent into any and all directions with ease as the broad man chased the sinewy girl. His huge mass of muscles moved with unprecedented violence and determination, her feet danced with joy and almost mocking facility. Whenever she moved for a counter, her claws turned into a chorus of whistles as they cut the air apart. Garrett managed to dodge once or twice, but soon he had to block with his bare forearms, leaving the girl’s claws casting drops of blood all over the Glade's floor.

Garrett's face bore fierce concentration, his target was clear to him and he intended to pursue it to the end, while the girl was grinning in anticipation, as if she had been waiting for this day for a long time. While she remained mostly on the defensive, she did not seem to be pressured by Garrett’s assault. On the contrary, it seemed as if she let him chase him. But Elissa knew Garrett was still holding back.

The moment came that the girl dodged one of Garrett’s lunges sideward and caught his wrist. Elissa saw his other hand as a blur, shooting at the girl from behind and below, she was sure this strike would hit, the blade would sink deep into her flesh.

But it did not happen so. Holding on to Garrett’s wrist, Nannade summersaulted over his arm, twisting it with a sudden jerk, the huge man big enough to block a door was slammed to the ground. Nannade kicked his knives away and standing above Garrett, readying her claws, her grin grew to a sickening width. Garrett was not yet done. Elissa could tell by his face that he was concentrating, calculating in the heat of battle.

FSHWOCK

Nannade recoiled backwards as the Invisible Fist hit her directly in the face, her feet left the ground, she flipped over and landed on her back. Garrett picked himself up and got into position, just as Nannade’s body was rising from the ground before stiffness and strength even returned to her limbs. She remained in a lower position, tensing all her muscles, readying for a leap. Garrett went into himself, shot his right hand forward, and at the tip of his finger, a purple drop of energy pooled.

Elissa recognized it with dread and horror. The girl had launched herself forward at Garrett. In a split second, Elissa dropped Faan and raised her hand. A fraction of a formula flashed through her mind.

“NO!”

Raw energies poured out of the countered spell’s broken weavings in purple tendrils, blinding all present. Elissa could hear bodies hitting the floor. She blinked, once, twice, and could see Garrett on the floor, knocked down. Nannade was shielding her eyes but regained her momentum towards Garrett, violent anticipation shining like green fire in her eyes.

Elissa banished the last voiceless screams from her head and called upon the spirits, if any were left in this place. She begged for help, offered much in return. An oak’s whisper answered and Elissa brought forth her please; to prevent death and bloodshed in this sacred place.

Nannade had taken the initiative and jumped onto Garrett, pinning him down by the throat while her feet pressed down his hands, their claws digging into wrists. Elissa watched as the girl’s maw seemed to open ever further, her lower jaw connected more to the neck than the skull, and two huge fangs – much larger than the girl ever had before – readying to sink into Garrett’s flesh.

Roots shot from the ground and yanked the girl away from Garrett, who immediately sprung back into action and grabbed his knives from the floor.

“NO! Stop!” Elissa yelled at him as he walked towards the girl, who was already starting to slither out of the roots binding her to the ground.

Garrett did not seem swayed. “This thing must be ended, abomination, twisted, wicked monstrosity.” He strode on and Elissa pointed her staff towards him, commanding the spirit another time. Roots entangled Garrett too and tried to bind him down, but his muscles bulged and tore through the binds. Thicker and thicker roots and vines wrapped around him, meanwhile, an ever finer net covered Nannade who continued to escape her binds through the tiniest holes and slits.

“Stop it! Stop it!” she pressured both of them. “It’s over. I rule here and I say stop!”

Nannade was still struggling, Elissa called upon more and more vines to bind her to the floor for good and she stopped struggling as they finally constricted her neck. She tried to turn her head to glare at Elissa, but Elissa would not look into those disgusting green eyes.

“It’s OVER. This clawing at stabbing ends NOW! You’re both under arrest.”