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As Fishclaw, Eggfang and Frozentongue were waved off at the village gate to face the flyers of the black mountains, Ruby and Rose turned back towards Ade and Bose to set their plan whilst the lizalfos chief went over to where a demonstration of swords was occurring. A red bokoblin was struggling to fight the black moblin he was up against, his wooden sword and metal shield failing to protect against the great beast's basic staff.

"DODGE!"

He swung for the piggy's head as he frantically rolled before hitting his head on the side of the shield.

"O-OWWW!"

"Put your shield AGAINST your body, like this!"

"R-right, s-sorry!"

"Now, parry me!"

"A-AAAGH!"

The pole came down upon his head as he struggled to crack his shield against it, but his half-hearted swipe did nothing to deflect the wood from smacking his ear with a hard sting.

"Strengthen your arm!" ordered the moblin. "Force it against my weapon the second you feel its contact, PUSH it!"

He striked once more as the bokoblin forced his shield against. It slid off but he managed to deflect it, before the third strike he managed to slam the pole away and desperately swung his wooden blade at the instructor. But the moblin was ready as he swerved his body out of range and slammed a hefty foot into the student's face to knock him on his back.

"AAAGH!"

"What did I say to you before? Parry then THRUST, not swing, you want to use the strength of your thrust to move closer to your enemy's open spot."

"Uuuugh...s-sorry, sir."

"Now, again."

They would repeat this process a few more times, the red bokoblin almost always just out of reach with his sword strikes. But on the seventh try he managed at last to parry the staff and thrust hard with a jabbing point straight into the teacher's gut as he gasped with a slight wince.

"NNNGH! Good! Good now again, just like that!"

Lizanaich watched the fight as they continued to repeat this tactic, another four times before the student managed to pull it off flawlessly with a growing bruise on his instructor's stomach.

"Alright, that is enough for now." The moblin stepped back and bowed to his student who did the same. "Very good Bokajin, you are learning better than you did before, now rest your weapons and we shall reconvene tomorrow."

"Yes sir."

The students sheathed their weapons and began to babble amongst themselves as the moblin turned towards Liz. He had a single left eye with unflinching look whilst his right had been gouged deep to leave a horrendous black streak that almost seemed to show the pale flint of bone as sharp as the spear he picked up beside him after putting down his harmless wooden replacement for sparring. A beautifully ornate halberd with tassels beneath the trident, upon which had a royal crest of some sort was emblazoned on both sides.

"Good practice today?" asked the chief.

"Twas better than before," said the moblin with the deep voice of a rumbling ocean. "I worry that our people are learning too slow to fight."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"No, I will teach them at the pace that best suits us. How may I assist you chief?"

"We got a plan to corral that stalfos outta here," explained the lizalfos, "but we're gonna need to sort out an expedition through the mountains southwest."

"You require my experience, yes?"

"Yeah, I mean if it's alright with you-"

"No." The black beastly boar gripped his spear in both hands and leaned forwards calmly. "Speak not like that, you are my leader, you must TELL me with confidence."

"...alright." Liz cleared his throat and stood up proper. "I want you to plan an expedition through the mountains so we can set a trap for this stalfos."

"Good. I shall prepare myself and bring a small scouting group forthwith."

"Alright, thanks Mobenheim...but uh, can I ask ya something?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you uh...why you giving me advice about being a leader when you clearly got it all planned out?"

"It is my duty to advise the leader," said the moblin with a hand to his heart, "I am bound by oath to follow, not to lead."

"But you're the strongest guy here!" cried Liz with arms raised.

"So was our former king. And that boy hylian defeated him not because he was stronger than him, but because of the great friendships that upheld him. In fact, if you will remember what our yiga scouts said, if it were not for the friendship that he formed with the princess then Link would have died at the battle of Fort Hateno."

"Huh...wait, r-really, he woulda died?!"

"Did you not find it strange he awoke a hundred years after His Majesty's revival? Sheikah technology is practically nought but witchcraft."

"I mean...I kinda always thought it was a grandson or something," the lizalfos rubbed his head feeling stupid.

"My point is that you are our leader because you are the most beloved of our remaining deserters." The beast lifted his spear to stand fully straight with knightly posture. "You have fed and cared for these people, for as long as I remember there has never been a word of anger against you...even when you poisoned Lizarvinius with his pork allergy."

"Heheh, you uh, you figured that out huh?"

"He was a loathsome bastard, in both senses of the word."

"Well, thanks for the support, I just want you to know I really appreciate all the work you're doing in keeping us safe."

"I thank you sir," said the moblin bowing onto one knee, "I am honoured that you hold me in such esteem."

"Ehhhhh," the reptile patted his shoulder gently, "you don't hafta call me sir-"

"I insist. It is not in my nature to dispense formality to one's superior."

"Hahaha wow jeez, you talk like someone outta the Skyward era."

"Hmhmhm, 'tis not the first time I have heard such!" he said standing up again with a smile. "I shall make preparations for the journey."

"Alright, see ya in a bit."

Stretching his arms and cracking his rubber gloves, the lizard walked over to where Ade and Bose were standing at a table, grinding rock salt into a fine powder before putting it in a small glass of water to stir and filtrate it. Mizz Ruby also assisted with the process by boiling some red algae and seaweed into a pot whilst Rose did the same.

"Howsit going boys?"

"Not bad," said Ribose, "just getting the salt for ya."

"Does it have to be a special kinda salt?"

"Oh yeah," said Adenine, "rock salt's the best stuff, I mean it's easier to just evaporate seawater and take the salt from that but rock salt is purest."

"It's thuh salt o' the earth," replied Ruby chuckling, "literally."

"HAH, yer right ma'am! So uh we just need to evaporate it into granules, and THEN we crystallise it by dissolving it in hot water."

"All part o' thuh natural process thet mother Earth herself does."

"That's good," said Liz nodding and peering over the experiment, "not that different to how I worked in the kitchen heh."

"Well yeah I mean cooking and chemistry aren't THAT much different, it's all about chemicals and balance right?"

"Ehhh...kinda, anyways uhhh what else you need?"

"We need some more seaweed," said Ribose cracking small stones into a mortar and pestle, "or red algae, either works."

"Huh? Why?"

"Gelatin to make the glue. Could use cornstarch but we don't have any corn or flour in this world so gelatin's the best shot."

"Also thuh best glue," said Ruby moving the jellied plantmold to dry in a container, "make sure it gonna stick to anythin', ah mean animal hide an' bones work but they take too long."

"Is there really no easier option than this?" asked Liz. "Just seems like an awful lot of work to catch one spirit."

"Spirits ain' easy to deal with," said the gator shrugging, "nobody said wuz gon' be easy."

"Ehhh I guess. I got my quartermaster to round up a scout party to get you boys off to this uh cavern you talked about."

"Soun' good, now all we gotta do's is head on out once we got enough salt here."

A few hours of preparation gave them enough salt through a hefty process of filtration, evaporation and crystallisation with a great glut of natural adhesives formed from plant gelatin substitutes. A small party was formed of scouts hand-picked by Mobenheim who led the front of them as the alchemists gave orders to the mixed group. Ade and Bose each carried a pot of thick glued salt which they smeared across the ground to form a long wide path from the village and through the mountains, making certain that not a single breakage in the barriers existed on either side of the main party. Miss Ruby walked alongside the moblin and his scout party who carried swords and bows to fend off any wild creatures that would dare disturb their task, whilst Rose stayed behind to keep watch over the village as Liz waved them good luck. Hours passed into the sunset as the gator swept her eyes across the gorgeous view of a lush valley nestled between mountain ranges, trapped between the sunkissed mountains of the Greatbeast's Spine and the nefarious dark Deep Mountains.

"This place sure look lahk a postcard," she muttered.

"It reminds me of the lands north of Hyrule," said Mobenheim, "the boundary betwixt Tabantha and Akkala are a sight to see."

"Whyzat?"

"One side of the mountains is dry as dust, the other laden with thickest snow."

"So whut'd you do in a past life?" she asked turning her head fully to him.

"I was stationed in the castle of Hyrule whilst His Majesty Ganon consumed it in the Calamty."

"Thet don' soun' good."

"He was known as the King of Evil for a good reason."

"Huh, no kiddin', y'all worked fer an evil orginah-zaysyon too?!"

"Yes," said Mobenheim nodding With his head turned to her, "though it was more of an army than an organisation."

"Whut'd y'all do?" she asked pulling her robe free from a branch twisting at her foot.

"Looting and pillaging, desecration...verminous activity."

"Nice, ah used to work fer thuh Fiendish Five doin' grand larceny, murder, necromancy."

"Necromancy?" The moblin raised a brow of concern. "Master Lizanaich said you were a priest."

"Well, nowadays yes, whut ah meant wuz that ah WUZ a necromancer, but now ahm reformed lahk you's."

"Hm, reformed is not what I would call myself."

"Whut wouldya call yerself?"

"A traitor. For the good of his people."

"Thet how you git thet scar?" she asked pointing at his cheek.

"No," he replied touching his deep burn, "a boy with a sword was responsible for that."

"Ooof jeez, trainin' went bad?"

"No, he was the mortal enemy of my former king. His blade of holy light scarred me, and the only reason I stand here before you is the fact that I fell from the rafters on which we fought, and survived with nought but a broken arm and a few ribs twisted. He did not pursue me, of which I am thankful for his sense of honour and duty."

"Damn. Ah know plenny abou' young upstarts ruinin' mah life too cuz ah wuz on thuh wrong side."

"Do you see this as redemption madame Ruby?"

"It's sumthin' lahk thet."

They said little else as they made good time on their approach to the cavern's location. Salt bonded with the earth as the path was fully formed over the course of a four-hour journey with exhausting meticulous detail that Ruby made to the salted path. Her tireless eyes gauged the lines of sodium with each step until she was satisfied when they stood in front of the cavern entrance. Not once did she cross over the salt herself as she nodded in approval.

"This's good, we got 'em now boahs."

"That is an odd subterrane," muttered Mohberra. "I have a question that has been troubling me."

"Yessum?"

"What would prevent the spirit from flying so far up into the sky that it CAN cross over the salt?"

"Not gonna happen," said Adenine smoothing out the sodium path with his fingers, "doesn't matter how high a ghost can fly, it can never cross over salt, no matter what."

"Indeed," she replied, "alrigh', Ade an' Bose ah need yous to head back to thuh village an' when thuh raptors return you send 'em up here, tell 'em to just follow thuh salt."

"A-alright," said Ribose plucking at his sleeve, "you gonna be alright up here?"

"Oh don'tchoo worry none ah got all this settled. You all can head back too," she said to the guards, "we're done here."

"Are you certain?" asked Mobenheim. "Can you face that spirit alone?"

"Ah can handle 'im plenny, y'all worry 'bout yerselves, you gotta protect yer own peoples...actually, when y'all git back could you keep an eye on Rose fer me, in case thet spirit get a li'l outta hand for her."

"Very well."

The moblin took his guard back towards the village with Ade and Bose following meekly. Looking back at the priestess they nodded to her silently as she stepped into the darkness of the cavern's mouth as her voice echoed quietly into the passage.

"Twenty-eight damn years since anybody walked through this place...heheheh, thet boah sure caused a real mess but then whut else is new...hhhhhhhahahaha!"

Night would come upon the village by the time both parties returned. Eggfang, Fishclaw and Frozentongue rested up from their battle and once they were ready, they would travel up towards the cavern with Adenine whilst Ribose stayed behind to implement his part of the plan to catch the firebeast. As the villagers prepared to mount their defences in preparation, the raptors and kaprosuchus headed up towards the mountain on a different route avoiding the salt path altogether.

"Are you sure she will be fine?" asked Eggfang.

"Yeah yeah it's fine she's got this," said Adenine gesturing vaguely towards the young lizard priest, "You're needed way more up at the base-I-i mean cave, cavern, underground place."

"Alright then," murmured Fishclaw somewhat confused, "what is Ruby planning for us?"

"Well, she's gonna need your power to take down this ghost with our special trap."

"Whut kind uff trap izh it?" asked Frozentongue shuffling her belly into a nice deep puddle.

"A lot more than salt I can tell you that, we're basically gonna contain it in this cave."

"Why not juzht kill it?"

"You can't kill what's already dead, but you can exorcise it, and that's what we're gonna do."

"What is with you starbeasts making everything so complicated?!" Eggfang ranted with a snarl towards the heavens. "We hunted five flatbeaks and killed them, easily, we did not need salt or whatever you are planning!"

"Have YOU ever exorcised a spirit before?!" Ade turned with a flaunt of his sleeve and hands on his hips towards her. "Have you ever had to chase out some entity that's not physical that's still wandering lost in your world?!"

"Not until now, no."

"So let US do the hunting and YOU help, capisce ma'am?!"

"Enough," barked Fishclaw poking his snout into Adenine's chest, "we are all in this together, there is no reason to question their ways of hunting if it works, Eggfang."

"I suppose," she muttered looking away, "lead us on then."

As the feral group left to join Mizz Ruby, Rose sat in the very centre of the village meditating quietly with legs crossed beneath her robe, whilst Mobenheim stood patiently beside her with patient vigil. Watching her with his halberd gripped firmly in hand, he noted Ribose carefully trace his line of salt around half the village to form a semi-circular barrier of white. Sometimes he had to waver for sake of avoiding the marshy puddles, but soon he reached the halfway point and stopped in waiting for the second phase of Ruby's plan to come. At one point Liz came strolling up to check on things.

"Howsit going?" he asked the moblin.

"Well," he said, "Rose has been trying to draw the spirit here with some latent energy."

"Wait, she can ATTRACT the ghost?"

"Apparently."

"I thought it was coming back by itself, that wasn't part of the plan!"

"Was it not?"

"NO, that weird lady told me it'd come back on its own!"

"The deer is a patient beast," said Mobenheim leaning on his spear, "one must coax it into the trap rather than allow its own hoof to do such."

"I guess," muttered Lizanaich rubbing his neck, "I mean I always hunted fish, when I hunt something I went TO it, I chased it and caught it, I don't like waiting."

"Patience is a virtue a leader must uphold." The hog turned towards the chameleon. "Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but it would do you good to strengthen such if you are to be our leader."

"I know...I mean, alright I'm patient when handling a stew but not waiting out for something to catch."

"Then treat it as simmering the stew, waiting for the right temperature and viscosity."

"Huh, you know how to cook too?"

"No, I just bandied some words in vain hope they would fit."

"Pffffhhhahaha, ohhhh jeez," he patted the moblin's arm shaking his head, "you are too honest fer your own good yanno that?"

"That too is a virtue yes," he replied smiling down at him before his expression darkened. "Do you hear that?"

"Huh?" The lizalfos cocked his head as his eyes clicked fiercely towards the southwest. "Yeah...it's coming, ALRIGHT EVERYONE LISSEN UP!"

The village chief walked towards the gathering of his people who were defending their houses with swords and spear.

"You all have yer salt pouches right?!"

"Yes sir!" cried the people.

"If that spirit comes towards your house, you give 'im a good blast of salt to the face. DON'T try to fight it, do NOT let it touch you under any circumstances, you use your weapon to keep its distance, not to fight with, that clear?!"

"YES SIR!"

"Good, now everyone just keep back an' let miss Rose handle all this if you can."

"HERE IT COMES!" Mobenheim barked. "Places everyone, remember your training!"

From the southwest there came a shrieking comet, slamming down into the swampy marsh with a great surging wave that surprised the inhabitants into staggering back. A torrid flame burned before Rose as she stood up calmly, her white pale skin reflecting the firelight as Mobenheim rushed towards her side with spear at the ready.

"MADAME BE CAREFUL!"

She raised a hand towards him to stay his advance. The spirit twitched its head with shuddering rasps and eyeless sockets piercing into Rose's soul.

"F-fire...fire's burning me."

The young nile monitor stepped back with one foot into the water as she assumed a defensive stance. With one hand raised before her face and another making a fist close to her chest, she stared down the beast whose shivering voice trembled through the swamp.

"The fire...calls me. Pangaea...save me."

"What is it sayin'?!" muttered Liz bracing himself with a harpoon in his claws.

"I do not know," said Mobenheim, "but the girl seems to judge him well."

Slowly the priest and the fire wraith circled each other, lashing tongues of flame following behind its wake as its legless body hovered over the murk. Rose kept her hands steady anticipating its attack. During this Ribose carefully snuck round the perimeter of the village applying the last of the salt circle.

"No...no life beyond this."

The phantom's hands shook with embittered rage as the flames roared inside its chest.

"I can never ESCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE!"

It lunged suddenly towards the girl who dodged back from its raking claws scorching the air between them. Carefully circling him she waited for the next move as it made a spinning strike from above with fiery wrath tearing towards the water, blasting a hot sizzling energy through that bubbled around Rose's feet. But she was unharmed as she countered with a vicious raking strike, gouging the air with darkened claws that tore across the monster's skull causing him to shriek and fall back. He rushed for her once again with a charging whirl turning into a bullet, but the monitor grabbed his arm whilst ducking and surprisingly thrust her fist straight into where his heart had once been, roasting fires crackling around her sleeve before she threw him back.

"WOAH!" cried Liz. "How'd she do that?!"

"Some sort of spiritual protection no doubt," muttered the moblin. "WATCH OUT!"

The creature turned and attacked the first thing it saw which happened to be Mobenheim, the guard shoving Liz out of the way as he thrust at the beast's face with his halberd. Planting a blade into each of its sockets, he twisted fast and threw him to the side, but the wrothful spirit spun in the air to rebalance itself and charged down upon his head with a crushing double fist of hammer force, blasting the water around it like a craterous blast that propelled the moblin back.

Stumbling onto his feet Mobenheim gripped his spear tight waiting for the next attack, the wraith screaming with a frenzied voice as it began to viciously tear into the quartermaster with savage claw strikes, ruthlessly slashing at least seven times with a psychotic speed that Mobenheim struggled to block against. Four of the gouging strikes he managed to deflect, twisting his spear to parry hard as he could and force the firebeast back, but three of them got through to rake across his hairs and leave charring burns black as night across his flesh. The moblin resisted the pain and stabbed hard into the creature's chest, roaring as he threw him upwards and over into the water.

"HRAAAAAAARRRGH!"

The ghost slammed its skeletal form into the marsh, but it did not stay down for long as it "stood" back up and rushed at a pair of bokoblins screaming with fright. In their panic they threw their salt at its face, which stopped the wight briefly as it howled with screeching pain and covered its eyes.

"GAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH! NO! PROPHECYYYYYYYY!"

In blind fury it slashed one of the unlucky creatures' face, blinding him in a vengeful counter as both eyes became burned through with licking tongues creeping into his eyesockets. Shrieking agony caused his sclera to melt, the flames fusing his eyelids shut as he sobbed and fell to the ground clutching his face whilst his partner stood horrified beside him. She dropped her weapon and screamed with absolute fear awaiting an even worse fate than her beloved.

"AAAAAAAIIIIIIGH!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"

The creature suddenly stopped with shuddering screams as every bone in its firecorpse twitched with maddening stutterance. A burst of green light surged from behind it just out of the bokoblins' range that crackled throughout the water with sizzling shocks.

"WHY DONTCHA PICK ON SOMEONE YER OWN SIZE YA SKULL-FACED SHIT?!"

Turning itself round with creaking smouldering limbs, the wrath-laden spirit saw Lizanaich shining his horn before him with electrical gleam and a harpoon in his claws.

"THIS IS MY HOME NOW, AND IF YOU THINK YOU GONNA PUSH US AROUND YOU GOT ANOTHER THING COMING!"

"N-no morning left for MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Pounding its fists into the swamp, the phantom burned a deep lashing pillar of flames towards Lizanaich as it parted the waters with steaming foul stench, a sulphurous mixture that he dodged as the pillar burnt itself up past him with scorching twisting amber tongues. The entity swerved to evade his lunging spear, jabbing furiously towards the spectral beast before coming close to strike. Lizanaich dodged the first sweeping claws and scuttled back before screaming with war cry and shining his horn with electric charge, slamming it into the water as it formed a rippling shockwave bubble of lightning that twisted and crept its voltage deep inside the phantom's carapace. Shrieking with elemental anguish, it tore past the lizalfos and barged into one unlucky lizalfos that tried running between huts, but was grabbed by the throat and choked with scorching grip as he was hoisted into the air and then ruthlessly strangled, suffocating from flames that dripped down its claws and bled through its punctured skin. His larynx blackened from the inside as smoke poured from his throat, lungs crackling up to die like bitter seeds in the forest fire.

"_A-A-AAGHGHRRGGHHHH RGGGHHUUUUUUUUURRRGHHK! _"

Tossing the lizard's corpse to the side the phantom caught sight of two other bokoblins that charged desperately towards him with short swords. They clashed almost simultaneously, striking their blades against the ribcage as steel scraped on bone. The creature swung his claws upon their heads as they dodgerolled away with surprising sync, cleaving from opposite sides to scar down the back and front of the flaming wight. Crackling ash flensed from his fists as he pounded the earth with screeching torrents of fire that formed shockwaves through the village. Houses started to burn in groups as people frantically rushed to douse the flames, whilst the two bokoblins that bravely stood before the beast had cleverly struck up the thick marshwater over themselves in a tremendous splash that formed a shield briefly against the blast.

They rushed at the spirit once again, strafing around his swooping claws that reached further than their actual length with added scars of flames streaking before their faces. Dodging twice beneath the vicious cross-strikes, they waited for the spectre to spin-slash over their heads before slicing upwards to carve deep grooves across the bottom of his jaw. He screamed with a brazen roar and burst a thick horizontal pillar of flames across the swamp, trembling tongues that twisted through the air and wrapped around one of the bokoblins to suddenly strangle his throat. Burning flesh across his larynx, it felt like barbed wire choking tighter and tighter as he fell to the water shrieking and gasping with blackened throat and cheeks turning blue as the fire seeped into his lungs. His friend tried to help, stumbling to his side and trying to douse the flames but they smothered his neck too tight, leaving a horrid scar as his face became permanent rictus of gasping mouth and bloodshot eyes.

The other bokoblin turned and cried with a tearful screech, raising his sword high to leap and strike the phantom's skull, but it swerved to evade and grabbed the back of the little pig's head. His eyes rolled up in horror as all his suffering came at once in one tremendous pool of anguish, feeling the creature's eternal sorrow infect him with virulent despair as his heart completely broke against his very will. To everyone's even greater horror, the bokoblin drew his sword to his throat and carved it wide open with a gurgling yell that dripped thickest red down his front, collapsing into a crimson pool. The firebeast turned its gaze towards Rose once again and tore across the marsh towards her. The monitor stood her ground and spread out her arms with dark heinous energies spreading around her body, trembling through the marsh like dozens of black ropes twisting and coiling to resemble serpents unseen beneath the murky waters. Her eyes glinted a cold indigo look as she waited for the right moment, flexing her fingers beneath her burnt black sleeves whilst the water trembled with nefarious intent. Just before he reached within arm's length of the girl, Rose screamed much to the shock of everyone nearby. It was a horrifying scream, one that only banshees could make and one that upset the spirit with such fright that it stopped in its tracks before a dark pulse of energy burst free from underneath.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Black fire coiled and wreathed across its bone, slithering like leeches from the swamp to cling tight to what was left of its body as the firebeast's flames sputtered and fumed in a battle of heat. Binding, twisting black ropes crept all over it in an instant before suddenly exploding with nebulous shockwaves that rippled throughout its entire skeletal structure, tiny bursts of soulful destruction that caused it to scream even harder and almost collapse. The monster hovered low before the student priest, falling to what would have been its knees for a moment to recover its strength. It started to weep.

"N-no...p-prophecy..."

She tried to reach out to it. The village held its breath as her fingers pressed against its blackened scalp. There was a silence briefly that they cherished before it spoke again.

"M-...M-m-mary...p-please, Mary..."

Her hand shook pensively. She tried to stroke its burning cheek and for a moment she almost thought the beast had been sated.

"Mary please...p-please run...run...RUUUUUN!"

Before she could stop him, the spirit suddenly surged its reddened flames and shrieked past Rose looking for an escape. The salt stopped him in his tracks as a shuddering scream dripped from its lipless snout, desperately trying to leave as it stormed back and forth with the salt barrier like an invisible wall it struggled to push through. He followed the only exit available to him as he followed the path laid out for him. Rose chased on after him whilst Lizanaich and Mobenheim watched the villagers creep forwards with shaking feet.

"I-i-is, is it over?" gasped Bokorie the black bokoblin.

"I-i dunno," whimpered her daughter, "Liz, i-is everything okay?!"

"YEAH IT'S FINE!" he cried. "COME ON OUT EVERYONE, IT'S SAFE!"

The people of Mohberrin stumbled out into the open with spears and swords clenched firmly in fearful ambition. Once the air seemed to have been cleared of battle they started to rush towards the victims of the encounter.

"What...oh no, n-no Lizarkul!"

"BOKEETA, BOKEETA ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

"WE NEED A DOCTOR, S-SOMEONE HELP!"

Ribose hurriedly leapt over the salt barrier and rushed towards the wounded bokoblin, his face burned completely across the eyes rendering him possibly blinded forever as he did his best to soothe the increasing pain of scorching fire that ate into his retinas. The village chief rubbed his arm with a growing shake in his fist as Mobenheim put a hand on his shoulder.

"You did well-"

"Sh-shut up." The reptile pulled himself away and walked back to his hut. "Tend to Lizarkul's body, I'll deal with Bokuhl and Bokossin."

"You have done well, remember that."

"WELL WHY DO I FEEL LIKE SHIT THEN?!" He turned with bitter tears bleeding down his eyes. "Th-there's not many of us here, all I have to do is NOT get anyone killed."

"Only one has died," said Mobenheim crossing his arms, "we were fortunate thanks to your good leadership and planning."

"If I was a good leader NOBODY woulda died tonight."

"Do not blame yourself for every single death."

"WHY NOT?!" he barked stomping his foot. "WHY SHOULDN'T I CARE?!"

"Because you will lose your heart," said the moblin with a pointing finger to his chest, "your empathy cannot last for every single creature that we have. Mourn for them, but do not weep. That is what you must do as a leader."

"I...didn't WANT to be-"

"But you are. So you must be. Come."

He offered his hand to the lizalfos earnestly.

"Let us bury our comrade together. Let us mourn properly."

"......f-fine." He took the moblin's fingers. "L-let's get...this over with, then I'm gonna break down sobbing in my hut where no one else can see me."

"You must be strong to be our leader Lizanaich. I will help you become strong, and this is the second lesson I offer you. Mourn, but do not weep."

Whilst the village made preparations for the oncoming battle against the spirit, Fishclaw, Eggfang and Frozentongue headed up the mountain with Adenine guiding them. The alchemist made sure to have them brought early before Rose would start luring in the phantom to their trap, as four hours later they found themselves still walking through the deepest night.

"What good will we be in this cave?" asked the huntress. "We should be fighting that firebeast in the village with greater numbers where we can kill it!"

"A phantom doesn't care about numbers," said Adenine swinging his sleeved arms, "it only cares about whether you got the right means to beat it down."

"I still do not understand how this...firebeast can be fought then."

"Mizz Ruby's got it all planned out, she's got a trap she just set up that'll totally work."

"I hope so," said Fishclaw looking up towards the starry sky, "this beast has been too much trouble and I have to return home soon."

"This is the last part of the plan, once we got this sorted you all can head home."

"Good...ah, I see the cave now I-...what...wha-what is this?"

"No...it cannot be."

The raptors stood before a large blown-out ventilation shaft facing towards a precipice, just a few inches taller than Fishclaw was as they noticed a broken bridge wrapped round one side of the mountain and a lake below them that had become full of rusted debris. Steel rafters and sparkling glass littered the waters to become a hazardous poisoned swamp, the smell of acid burned through their nostrils as Mizz Ruby stood just inside the entrance and beckoned them in.

"There ya are, cummon in let's go."

"But this...th-this is the-"

"Whut? Whut's wrong y'all look lahk ya seen a ghost, haHAAAA!" She slapped her knee and hooted with a giggle. "Hoohooooo boah ah been WAITIN' to say thet wun fer a good WEEK ah tells ye. Seriously let's go, we don' got tahm to stan' aroun' all yabberin'. Ade, as soon as Rose comes in you seal this place off with thet salt ya hear?"

"Got it!" shouted Ade crouching into the bush to hide safely. "Just...gonna wait out here for a...a few hours I guess..."

They both looked at each other with growing nerves and twitching tails, seeing the dark tunnel stretch out behind Ruby as they headed in. Darkness consumed them briefly, their claws echoing with soft clicks into the long steel passage that smouldered with dry fuels and the musty scent of a tomb. At the end of it was a large room full of old steel boxes piled up against the walls next to enormous machine parts that had long since rusted to a torpid brown beneath hanging cranes and giant hooks that swung glibly back and forth. The centre of the room however caught their attention the most with two things. One was the remains of a generator, the large cracked casing that had sent thousands of glassy shards covering the entire floor; the other was a grand tyrannosaurus rex whose skeletal corpse had slumped against the generator's hexagonal base. Dozens upon thousands of larval casings remained inside its pristine husk, long picked clean by the scavengers of years past to render a grand white skull with gouging marks around its eyesockets and fragments of glass imbedded into its spine.

"This...this is it," gasped Eggfang. "I-i remember this. That...that greatbeast he killed."

"Whuddaya mean?" asked Frozentongue pushing the glass away with her fat pudgy feet.

"We have been here before," said Fishclaw with a heavy sigh, "this...this was the place where our family were taken by the hairless."

"Huh? You mean zhuh oneszh back when you were li'l?"

"Yes...this was the place were our family came from. I cannot believe it is still here."

"I always hoped it would have collapsed on itself," said his sister wistfully, "but no...here it remains."

"Well ain' thet a coinkydink," said Ruby smirking, "thet means yanno whut thuh layout is righ'?"

"No, I do not remember it well-"

"WAIT!"

Fishclaw smelt something as he hurried over towards a small black object in the midst of the glass field. Stepping through the shards carefully he found a small handgun lying by itself.

"S-sister...look, smell this."

She walked over and did the same before mirroring his expression. Slowly they started to sit themselves close beside it, pressing their snouts against the old rusted gun and whimpering soft purring noises with tears in their eyes to the confusion of those watching.

"Whuss wrong?" asked Ruby. "Why y'all blubberin' over thet thing?"

"This thing, this..." Eggfang stuttered in her throat to raise her head towards her, "this was our father's fire. Our father...used it to fight the hairless and kill that greatbeast with. But...but it has no scent, it is...it is too old."

The priestess looked towards the deadened rex with a soft whistling through her teeth and a strange smile almost resembling pride.

"HE did thet? With only a peashooter?"

"Yes," replied Fishclaw, "I...I wonder if Oddclaw would like this."

"If ya wan' ah can take thet pistol an' make sure its uhhh scent is preserved to take back home wit'yous."

"You can do that? Really?!"

"Sure why not, be lahk a small reward fer all yer help with this uhhh spirit thingy."

"We would love that," said Eggfang slowly getting back up, "thank you Ruby."

"But first we got a spirit to catch, so cummon, this way."

Walking carefully through the glass and moving through the tyrannosaur's ribs, the hunters spotted a dead raptor that they knew to be one of their own tribe. They stopped for a moment, pitying its flesh-deprived form that had since become a home and feast for insects that once festered in its body. The halls were a monochrome steel now rusted with age and damaged with fire giving them a scorched palette ranging from bronze to blackish sheen with bullet holes peppered across the range. The letters "B3" had almost peeled off over time leaving only their impressions paled upon the surface as the smell of the firebeast continued on towards the upper floor where a staircase ascended to a looping corridor.

The bodies of humans lied in front of them, slumped and emaciated from desiccation with the fabric of their suits unwinding from years of decay and insectoid infestation, burrowing holes from where they had crawled within and eaten away from inside to leave dry mummified corpses. Amongst them however were two more raptors, one of whom was quite young. Eggfang almost instantly recognised the smaller raptor and stopped in front of him.

"It...this is him," she said turning to Fishclaw. "This is our brother. The one we lost."

"It...it is?"

He walked over to confirm the scent. There was not as much sadness in their hearts as there had been from their father's scent, but they took a moment of silence to hope that his last moments were peaceful. Ruby said nothing, heading down towards one path whilst Frozentongue stood guard at the entrance keeping watch on the raptors.

"I am sorry brother," Fishclaw shivered with blinking tears, "I...I did not mean to forget you. Everything was so fast, we were so young I...I-i-"

"Shhhh..." he felt his sister nuzzle him, "we are here now. Let us offer him our silence at least."

So they did. For five whole minutes they said nothing as they struggled to remember their little brother. A paltry fragment of their first memories flickered before their eyes but nothing more as they stepped onwards past him. The scent of their tribe however permeated through the air and so led them down another route opposite of where Ruby was.

"Where you going?" asked Frozentongue. "Hey, we're down zhizh way."

"I just...want to see something," muttered Fishclaw.

"Please," insisted Eggfang, "let us be. This was where our family was, we will be back soon."

"Ulrigh'," muttered the kaprosuchus slumping her legs down against the corner, "Don' take too lung."

The brother and sister walked on to where more of the humans remained, lining the halls in clumping parts of ragged gouging wounds and bullet holes through cloth. Dried blood had left pale winestains throughout the corridor in blotchy parts that mingled with the faintest scents in the air. But they focused only on their family's scent, filtering out the human stench with a hunter's skill as they passed through various twisting hallways, stepping over bodies as well as old broken rifles and shotguns. At the end of this they found a set of two security rooms where five humans laid dead, two in the head and three from various other wounds of a gun. It was in that sector they found the containment cells lined up in rows like a prison. Suddenly their minds reeled with a horrendous flashback, staggering them from the overwhelming smell of what once had been their cages. The creeping flicker of Starleaf trembled in the back of Fishclaw's head as he struggled to contain himself, whimpering with a stuttered voice.

"H-hohhhh...th-this...this was it."

FATHER CRIES BLEEDS SORROW?

"Y-yes...yes, Starleaf I...do you see my memories child?"

I CANNOT SEE WHAT YOU REMEMBER

"Well...when I was a child myself, I was...I was trapped here. All of my family was."

WHY?

"The...a tribe of hairless...I do not know why they took us here, they...they wanted to-"

"Torture us." Eggfang breathed deep to suppress her shivering anger. "They fed us poison, they made us turn on each other. They tortured father, they broke our alpha's mind all because they could."

YOU WERE TOYS TO AN ALIEN RACE

"Yes Starleaf," replied the brother, "that...that is what we were."

ALIENS WE MET THEY DO NOT HARM US?

"No, no Oddclaw's friends are a good tribe. They help us."

DO THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID TO YOU?

"I think Eggfang mentioned this place to them, did you tell the hairless about this place?"

"I think so," she replied sniffing along the iron bars, "they said it was a different tribe and I will believe them as such. They have had every opportunity to torture us if they wished, but they have not. They are a good tribe."

GOOD ALIENS HELP US

"Eggfang, here!"

The last place in the hall had a special room isolated from the rest. A small autopsy room where a thick metal slab laid in the centre of it with metal restraints that had melted down the sides to resemble cooled lava on the floor. The skeletons of three humans in white coats laid around the table, one who had their throat slit with a cut across the neck vertebrae, one with scarring marks in the stomach region below the ribs, and one whose facial area had been scorched black with electrical burns. Eggfang headed towards the back of the room and found two cupboards tucked in a corner.

"I smell something, here, can you open this?"

Her brother headed over to look at the doors seeing there was no clear indication of a handle, using Starleaf's power to open them apart and find a strange set of hermetically-sealed containers. Three of them contained a piece of scaled flesh, a small vial of blood and two black nail claws perfectly preserved.

"Is this...th-this is his-"

"Oddscar was here," gasped Eggfang. "That...that has to be his flesh, look at those claws they are JUST like Oddclaw's!"

"That means..." he turned back towards the tainted slab, "they were...taking his flesh."

"He must have killed them," she muttered sniffing across the table.

"I cannot believe our journey brought us here. Why did they bring this firebeast here?"

"Why else would you lure a beast into a cave?" She turned to him with an obvious look. "There is nowhere to run except the way we came, and the firebeast cannot pass through salt. It is a perfect trap."

"And this is the only cave near?" he asked looking around the small room before leaving. "Hmm...alright, I suppose that makes sense, let us return back."

"Wait." Eggfang stared at the containers once more. "Do you think...we could ask Ruby about these?"

"Why?"

"I have an idea...something Oddclaw can help with."

They walked back to where Frozentongue sat curled up on the floor, giving one last look back to where their family had once been with a nostalgic yet terrible scent lingering across their nostrils. The crocodilian stretched out with feline arch of her back and a snarling yawn on seeing them return.

"You ulrigh'?" she asked them.

"Yes," said Fishclaw, "where is Ruby?"

"Zhizh way," she gestured towards another hallway, "zhey got a trap zhet up fer zhuh firebeazht."

The kaprosuchus led them in towards another large room that was much less familiar than the others had been. In fact it was the only part of the base that had no scent of raptors permeating it. A wide open space where footsteps would echo in a room the size of a sports field, with corroded oil drums leaking in dark corners that added a whole new stench of toxic residue in the atmosphere. Other odours that clung to the place where metallic scents of cleaning fluid and steel flakes of rust that peeled off the walls as well as the smell of gasoline that creeped across the air with a hot trembling burn to their nostrils. But the smell of manmade chemicals conflicted harshly with hot herbal essences that wafted from various pots that had been welded into the walls, boiling plants that culminated into a single melody of scents that was oddly pleasing. In the centre of the room was Mizz Ruby checking over a wide circle of chalk with some unknown symbol inside of it, upon which was a small compact mirror like one would use for applying makeup. The only other way out was a steel shutter forever closed but surprisingly intact from the decaying state of the base. In front of it was a large metallic beast with circular windows above its bulbous steel nose and four thin-bladed wings on top of it.

"What IS that?" asked Eggfang.

"A hellacopter," said Ruby kneeling in the centre of the room, "people use it fer flyin'."

"Aaaah a stoneflyer," corrected Fishclaw, "are you setting your trap?"

"Mmhmm. How wuz yer trip down memory lane?"

"It was...I am not sure what to feel."

"Thas unnerstandable. Now this gon' be tricky cuz ah don' have thuh Loa here to help me, so ahm gonna need to improvise a li'l."

She pointed at the circle where the mirror sat, along with three other items that glinted at the raptors when they inspected closer. Two small finger rings somewhat tarnished with dark streaks, and a black stone pendant together which formed a triangular notation in the circle. They sniffed carefully around the central dais to pick up new scents but the constant dozens of herbs and machine oil clouded their noses too much to detect.

"What are those shining stones?" asked Fishclaw.

"Part o' thuh ritual," said Ruby cracking her knuckles, "don' worry about it, now all you hafta do is beat down thet spirit until he's weak then blast 'im into thet there circle."

"Really? Just weaken him and push him into that?"

"Yep, thas all you gotta do an' with your powers combined with mine thet won' be a proh-blem."

"Alright. Starleaf do you understand?"

YES FATHER

"Good, then we are ready."

"Whut about uszh?" asked Frozentongue. "Whudda we do?"

"Yer job is to make sure thet spirit don' leave this room. Also try not to git killed."

"That will not happen," said Eggfang with a leering look, "but now I want to ask you something, Ruby. Why have these stones been placed here fifteen days before?"

"Huh? Whutcha mean?"

"Do not try to fool me." She stepped towards the gator and reached to her fullest height with snouts almost touching. "You are oddly well-prepared for a starbeast that just arrived."

"Hmhmhah, nuthin gits past you huh? Ah never said ah arrived just recently. This..." She spread her sleeves out with large chest. "This is all abou' thuh perfect timing. Ah set up thuh means to direct thuh spirit here so's we can trap it safely, an' thet means havin' to git thuh village on mah side an' bring you's into it cuz yer brother's got sum sweet skills that'll help plenny with it. Can y'all blame me fer wantin' to take precautions, ah mean, ah never lied to ya's, ah said ah came here to deal with thet phantom swoopin' around cryin' about Cxulubcah didn' ah?"

"That is true. Hmph." The female raptor turned away a little deflated. "Forgive me then, I am just...wait. What did you say?"

"Did you just say 'great fire'?" said Fishclaw cocking his head. "In our tongue?"

"Ah picked up a li'l lingo whilst here a couple weeks," said Ruby scratching her chin with a cheeky smirk, "s'whut thet firebeast wuz clamourin' on abou' righ'? Now, Eggfang ah got a mission fer you, those salts thet Ade an' Bose gave you."

"Yes?" She looked down at the bandolier strapped round her chest.

"When both Rose AND thet spirit arrives, you pour thet salt across thuh doorway behind yous, thet way it don' escape an' we lock it in this room."

"Alright...Fishclaw I may need your help with that."

"Alright."

"While yer at it uhh Fishclaw, could you grab thet thing over thurr?" She pointed towards a bleck tarpaulin hanging against a shelf. "Ah need to cover this trap up so he don' see it comin' and also protect it from interference."

"Do I have to do everything?"

"Yes," said Eggfang nipping his cheek teasing him, "you are the one with Starleaf who can move things through the air."

The raptor did so with Starleaf's will, pulling it through the air like a spectre before draping it across the circle of chalk and its objects. It had the same scent as Mizz Ruby's robe.

"Thank ye," she said.

"Oh, Ruby I have a request," asked Fishclaw.

"Yessum fre?"

"We...my sister and I found some...things that belonged to our father. Do you think we could ask to have those brought back with his fire to our home?"

"Ah see no reason why not, sure, whut are they exactly?"

"His claws."

"Wait, whut?!" She lifted her head up from the chalk. "Why're his claws just layin' around lahk thet?!

"The hairless put them in a stone that you can see the inside of, I am not sure why. The hairless like to take things apart."

"Ah see...an' you want his claws spesifikly?"

"Yes, if that is alright."

"Sure no prob, after this is all done but now we wait, until Rose gits back with our mutual friend."

So they waited. The raptors felt their thoughts lingering back to their youth when these walls were a prison and not yet a ruin with both a strange wistfulness and a sense of melancholy. Their brother left behind amongst the corpses lingered in their thoughts as they sat on the cold steel floor until forty minutes later when they heard the sound of something rumbling from the walls around them. The smell of sulphurous ash flooded their nostrils as they knew what would come.

"Showtahm," said Ruby as she cracked her knuckles, "y'all ready fer this?"

"Yes," said Fishclaw, "Starleaf are you ready?"

YES FATHER LET US END THIS

"HERE IT COME!"

KHHHHHRRRRRRRMM

"A-AAAAAAAAGH!"

With terrifying speed there came a great explosion from one end of the hangar bay. The raptors and Frozentongue were thrown aback from the blast, but Ruby stood firm against the shockwave as the helicopter smouldered into a crumpling pile of old rusted steel. Split in half like the corpse of a great bird with glass shimmering amongst the flames, the clanging of rotor blades echoed through the bay amidst the constant crackling flames that consumed the length of the wall behind it. Standing in the fire was the ghastly creature itself, the half of a raptor's skeleton possessing embers all around it as sizzling smoulders dripped off from its wisping tail and onto the steel floor behind it. Rose followed through the doorway and raced to Ruby's side as they prepared for battle. Fishclaw swiftly took one of Eggfang's salt vials and opened it with Starleaf scattering the granules across the doorjamb to fully trap it inside. The phantom shook its arms with shivering hot tears down its face.

"It's...i-it's a dream...and it's not...there's f-fire...down below us."

"Now lissen," started Ruby raising a claw towards him, "ah don' wanna hafta hurt you, but if'n you don' calm yerself righ' now we gonna hafta take extreme measures. We don' wanna hurt you. We just wanna help you, letcha calm down sum an' get yer head all in gear."

"I see...the fire. It's...c-come for me, it's come for me, it's come for me-"

"Who, who's comin' for ya?!"

"Pangaea...Pangaea's calling me."

"It ain't coming here. We can help you." She stepped forwards with a calm solace. "Just let us help. Ain' no reason to fight, we all got proh-blems but if yer just willin' to take thuh first steps, we can help you find peace."

The priestess offered her hand towards him with inviting gesture.

"Tell me yer name. Tell me. Who are you?"

"...Cxulubcah."

His arms spread wide as he raised his head slowly.

"Cxulubcah."

His fingers shook with a deathless fear.

"CXULUBCAAAAAAAAAH!"

The flames of madness crept up his body and burned across the ceiling, sending a hellish light throughout the entire room as fire crawled along the floor and began to set the oil drums ablaze adding even more of an inferno. The raptors felt fear trembling in their hearts at the presence of such wrathful heat, but Frozentongue stood firm and stomped her claws with open jaws of aggression.

"COME ON ZHEN, AH'VE HAD ENUFF UFF YOU FIREBEAZHT!"

"RRRRRAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!"

The monster rushed towards her as she dodged with a hard striking smack of her tail, cracking against the charred ribs of the wraith who staggered slightly back and turned towards Eggfang to lunge its claws at her face. She strafed fast but did not attack for fear of the flame as Fishclaw countered for her, striking with a heavy blast of concentrated air that blocked the flames hard and thrust the firebeast backwards. The spirit opened its hands to burn thick melting balls of fire across its fingers, tiny suns of death that hurtled fast at the raptor who summoned his will to twist the air and orbit the shrieking fire round him to pound straight back into the skeletal beast.

Pummelled thrice by its own attack, the phantom spun its body fast into a rippling pillar of flames, a storming cloud of fire that sent volleys of burning fury across the floor in each direction. Fishclaw suppressed the fire by warping the air around himself and his two allies, whilst Rose and Ruby swept their cloaks in front of them to repel the flames with sudden extinguishment. The monstrous form of Cxulubcah roared and spun viciously towards the two females as they dodged apart from each other, letting the beast dive between them as it turned and striked at the gator who thrust her hands against and surged a dark energy to blast him back, her voice changing to a monstrous creep.

" DEPOTWA!"

The nebulous aura burst in its face as the spirit cried with howling rage, staggering back whilst snarling breaths full of hot wilted ash. It rushed for her once again and swerved beneath her fists as the spirit plunged its claws into her stomach. The old priestess croaked with a foetid roar of anguish before clasping her hands into one single hammerfist of deep mauve that crushed into the back of Cxulubcah's skull as its claws were wrenched out of her belly to leave dark gashes beneath her robe.

"D-DUST...TAKES THE SUN AWAAAY!"

" Bouzen LARI!" Ruby charged up one of her fists with blackest red. " Ou vle MOURIIII?!"

She drove her punch towards the beast but it dodged fast with a sweeping flurry of flames that lashed across her face to put distance between them. The vodou priestess shuddered with a clenching hand against her gut, feeling cold fluids seep against her claws before she sucked in a deep breath to contain herself. The wight of fire blazed its arms with a sunburnt smoulder to form a thick muscular mimicry that hid its skeletal arms beneath.

" GRRNNNGH...hhheh, hhheheh heh heh heh, looks lahk our boah's gettin' ready to fahnally show his REAL power."

Rose stood between her mistress and it as Cxulubcah swung with savage haymakers of scorching fury towards the lizard's face, her body swerving with acrobatic grace to avoid the first four punches that grazed past her cheeks. She countered on the third punch as she grabbed its arm without fear of burning, the other arm trying to slam through her head with a shrieking haymaker that she ducked underneath and delivered a brutal clawing punch to the creature's ribs, before hurling him against the wall. The phantom however twisted its body to latch onto the steel and spring back towards the girl with a psychotic punch, cracking her across the chin as she shrieked and fell against the floor before Cxulubcah came from above to crush his fists upon her face.

She rolled fast and whipped out a long tendril of rope from her sleeve, latching it around Cxulubcah's arm to throw him aside and give her time to pull up whilst the rope seemed to undulate and suck something from the spirit's body that made it shudder and spasm in desperation to pull it free.

"N-NO, MORNIIIIIIING!"

Screeching with burning rage the spirit's skeleton became more and more obscured by a falsely-formed flesh from hardened flames that became a crimson hue, glowing to become a heart beating within its ribs until only its skull remained exposed. Gripping the rope-like tentacle it wrenched it free from its body before pulling hard to yank Rose closer towards its fist. She cried out in panic, but Ruby severed the rope with black fire from her claws before hurtling a ball of nebulous lightning into Cxulubcah's chest.

" TET ZOZO!"

"GAA-AAAAAARGH! NNNNNRRRRRAAAARGH!"

"SIT, THUH FUCK, DOWN BOAH!"

"D-don't...fool YOURSELF!"

"AHM TRYIN' TO HELP YOUS NOW _SIT YER ASS DOWN! _"

The priestess rushed towards him with a heavy punching whallop across the face, raking her knuckles through his skull as he shivered with heated vengeance. Two wild haymakers she threw with crawling darkness up her sleeves that blasted upon Cxulubcah's grimace, left and right before the third one was blocked by a corpulent blazing arm that shook with frenzied effort. The spirit grabbed both her fists, trying to force them apart as she forced her strength back against him in a mutual conflict, his eyeless gaze simmering with anguish as her voice shook with efforts.

"L-let...me...h-help you."

"Don't...fool yourself."

"Ah know whut yer sayin', ah know it's just...nuthin' but memories to you but let me HELP."

"I...was always WEAK!"

The fire raged on throughout the hangar, setting the scene of chaos all around them as the firebeast suddenly felt a forceful weight collide into the side of him, rolling across the ground like a broken corpse before pushing itself back up with claws clasped upon its head.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Fishclaw stepped forth with glinting silver eyes as Ruby stepped back to recover. "You have only tasted a piece of my true strength, firebeast."

"RRRAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

With an earth-shattering cry as the flames rose higher to bathe the walls in a scarlet hue, the spirit surged across the floor with a blazing trail behind it to swing its fist in a vertical arc upon Fishclaw's head. He strafed and gave a hardened blast to the side of Cxulubcah with Starleaf's forceful pressure, setting the wight up for a hard kick into its chest from Eggfang's clawed feet launching towards it. Staggering with surprise it countered with a hard punch to her forehead that threw her against the wall with dizzying strength that a hard bruise formed on the back of her head with blurring vision. The kaprosuchus came barging next with thunderous claws stamping across the floor as she collided head first into the phantom's ribs with a heavy crunch. She tried to snap her wide jaws towards any semblance of bone but the spirit veered out of reach, blasting a fireball upon her head as she dodged in close and whalloped with her tail. But Cxulubcah grabbed her instead and swung her hard across the hangar, turning on Fishclaw next as the raptor steadied himself.

"Starleaf, prepare yourself!"

YES FATHER

"FIGHT ME FIREBEAST, LET US SHOW YOU OUR STRENGTH!"

The beast took his challenge as roaring claws struck the air between them, only to find an invisible barrier separated it from its enemy. The solid wall of air resisted the spirit's assault, slashing strikes that desperately cut through to try and reach Fishclaw. Starleaf forced it back with a greater push to the point that the air bent itself outwards, pressing harder against Cxulubcah's chest to a painful extreme as it screamed even harder. With violent gouging blows the beast made a frenzied combo of nine hits, scarring with black lines that faded swiftly against the barrier as blow after blow came upon them. Suddenly, the seventh hit managed to breach and much to both of their shock, the firebeast scratched its claws twice across Fishclaw's snout as he staggered back with shock.

"A-AAAGH, HE...H-HE BROKE THROUGH!"

HIS FEAR CREATES SUCH STRENGTH UNKNOWN

"Noooo life beyond THIIIIIIIIIIIIS!"

Taken aback by such fiendish strength, Fishclaw shoved him back once more by having Starleaf grab one of the shelves from nearby to whack the entity across his skull like a bat, knocking it to the side as he "wielded" it before him. In a semblance of some strange instinctive intelligence, the creature floated towards the burning wreck of the helicopter and grabbed a rotor blade in each hand.

"Every time...I sleep...the blood of ancient times...screams for the fire above."

"I warn you firebeast," said Fishclaw wielding the steel shelf, "my child and I still possess the power to ruin you."

"F-fishclaw be careful!" cried Eggfang. "Do not, d-do not strain your mind too much!"

"I know what I am doing sister now stay back!"

"CXULUBCAAAAAAAAAH!"

The phantom charged with blades searing hot in its grasp, slashing violently across and then downwards upon Fishclaw who guarded with his metal shield. Twisting and spinning the weighty shelf he blocked the incoming blows of Cxulubcah's ferocious weaponry, long spear-sized blades that cleaved the air apart with a whirring sound that stifled the flames around it. Rivers of fire bled across the floor around them as the spirit attacked, striking left and right with diagonal cuts upon the raptor's head with Starleaf pulling double duty in both supporting the shelf-shield before his "father" and also trying to force the air pressure against the beastly entity. Sometimes the blades would struggle to cut through the sudden density, vertical strikes becoming sluggish and horizontal cuts that almost bent the rotorblade against invisible friction, but the force of his rage would drive his blade onwards and managed to scrape across Fishclaw's head. The raptor countered with a hard crunch of the shelf upon the spirit's skull, knocking it to the floor as Frozentongue took her chance to bodyslam on top of its back, crushing its spine beneath her muscular weight and quickly rolling off to avoid being burnt too much.

One of the blades suddenly shot out towards Fishclaw as he riposted with a cracking swing of his metallic shield, sending the blade hurtling across the room as Cxulubcah grabbed his remaining weapon in both hands. Roaring from the back of its spiritual throat, it surged a horrid flame through the helicopter blade until it was a living sword of fire as he charged like a vengeful samurai. The heat of such blaze was powerful enough to carve straight through the shelf, and leave Fishclaw exposed who slammed both remaining halves across the creature's face and violently propelled his entire body towards the spirit's ribcage after. Stumbling back from his bodyblow the raptor felt his mind becoming hazy and his ears turning warm with wet blood. He staggered before the shrieking wight who crossed its arms before him and surged with a violent agony.

"BROTHERRR!"

From the right came his sister's voice, charging into him seconds before the blasting expulsion of a hot fiery shockwave directly in front of Cxulubcah, burning across the floor in a series of explosive pillars that blew back anyone near them. With her brother safely out of harm's way she turned and rushed back towards the firebeast who carved forth a giant curtain of flames between them, roasting as high as the ceiling but it was too late to stop. The raptor leapt before she even realised what she was doing and burst through the fire with crackling claws and charring feet that drove hard into the phantom's head with such violent energy that it crushed it against the wall.

"AAAAAAAAAA AAARRRRRGH!"

Through burning pain smouldering in her feet, she stood bracing her teeth as tongues lashed across her brown scaled skin and peeled the pebbly surface away to reveal blackish-red underneath. She gasped stuttering to resist the torment of the fire eating away at her legs as Cxulubcah grabbed the other two remaining helicopter blades from the wreckage near it. With mindless fury it spun viciously towards Eggfang with whirling blades as she ducked underneath the sharp shimmering edges, circling around it as it bent lower at the front to scrape the sharp tips across the floor with shrieking sparks. She jumped and clawed at its spine feeling the tips of her feet crack into its vertebrae as it screamed and swung back behind itself, slashing the air with wild savagery trying to slice her apart. The raptor watched with frantic eyes in the spirit's movements, its arms resembling enough muscle for her to tell which way they would swing as she dodged almost each and every attack. Vertical cleave she strafed as sparks shattered beneath its blade, whirling horizontal slash she ducked with flattened body before backing off fast despite the increasing tenderness of her scarlet-hardened wounds. One strike was lucky and managed to just hit close enough to slice across her back with flensing cut as a chunk of her flesh fell free from her body. Exhaustion sunk in, but she had a saviour still in the form of Mizz Ruby who suddenly appeared beside her and trapped the incoming blade between her pudgy hands.

"NNNNNGH! B-BATARD!"

"RUBY!"

"GO, AHLL HANDLE 'IM!"

Staggering away with bleeding back and torpid legs, the raptor thought she was safe as she hurried to Fishclaw's side. But the entity did not forget her transgressions as whilst it struggled with one blade forced against the grip of the vodou priest, the other blade was free to hurl straight towards the unsuspecting Eggfang's back, like a harpoon ready to kill.

"BEHIND YOU!"

Ruby cried too late. But the blade was stopped before ever reaching its target when in the midst of its path a blackened cloak swept into view and long pale hands plucked it from the air. Spinning with momentum of the phantom's force, Rose swung the rotor blade to a slowing standstill as Eggfang reached her brother. The black-veiled priests came back with a vengeance upon Cxulubcah as Mizz Ruby twisted the blade hard between her fingers and slammed her fattened fist into the creature's jaw. It staggered but not enough to stop it from driving its entire blade straight into Ruby's stomach.

" HRRUUUUURRRHKH!"

"RUBYYYY!"

"GHHHRKH...h-hhhkhhr...n-non...mwen byen." She smiled with a killer's gleam. "Se nan chimen jennen...yo kenbe chwal MALEN!"

The gator pulled the blade even further through her body until it burst from her back, pouring fattened guts and rotting odours down her robe as she grabbed at the spirit's wrist and surged a monstrous strength throughout her entire being. Black dripping ooze pooled around her legs as her eyes became a dark abyss, her voice guttural like the ancient songs of beasts. Cxulubcah started to scream even harder, grabbing its head with its other arm and trying to blot out her words as words tinted of deep fuchsia swept past her body. Chanting louder and louder, the room shook with ungodly force, her hair unravelling from its bunches to flow free behind her in straggling twisting branches like the remains of a forest fire. The phantom struggled as its power began to weaken, its strength already exerted from such a long battle with nowhere to run at last. She shoved one of her hands into its chest and grabbed the heart borne of flames that burned like a seething lump of coal in her fingers. Crushing it slowly she sucked his strength even faster, and soon its skull began to fade beneath another muscular falsity, the flames wilting but still managing to form some semblance of a head as a shaking raptor's face appeared before her. A tearful-looking set of eyes gleaming silver in the flames.

"P-please...pleaaaase run."

But she did not listen. She stifled him with her voice of the Loa, transfixing him to her will as she dragged his weakened form towards the ritual circle, as Rose pulled the cloak free from it to reveal the glistening mirror.

"N-NO, NOOOO! NO MORNING, NO MORNING, NO MORNIIIIING!"

They watched as Ruby forced him against the circle of chalk. It was not a barrier like the salt, but it still required a great effort to push the creature in as he resisted with the last of his efforts. Rose joined with a strange reluctant step, pushing him even harder as he sobbed and stuttered with hot tears streaming down his face. The spirit was thrust into the circle's embrace, and so its magic began to seal him. The objects trembled around him with a piercing sound as he fell to the floor with heart-rending scream. He felt the age of sorrow upon him as the compact mirror glinted next to him. He looked only once, but it was enough to pull him in as his fire was suddenly pulled into a spiritual vacuum, sucking his entire essence into its purest glass as he screeched his final words to those who could hear him.

"MARYYYYY! I'M SORRY MARY! MAAAAARYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

The little box snapped itself shut and snuffed out the flames of fear. The crackling fires that remained still smouldered around them as the raptors hobbled their way out of the room to escape the fire, stepping over the salt barrier cautiously with Frozentongue joining them. Ruby and Rose however stayed in the room not minding the heat.

"A-aaaagh, f-finally," gasped Eggfang with bleeding back, "is that the firebeast dealt with?"

"Yep," said Mizz Ruby pulling her robe tightly against herself, "hooo, dunno about you but ahm feelin' a damn chill straight up mah back."

"He GUTTED you!" cried Frozentongue. "An' yer zhtill zhtanding?! Huuhuuh yer a tuff beazht yanno zhat?!"

"Not as badass as you folk," she said with a humble bow and a grunt of pain, "hnnngh...god dammit thet's gonna leave a mark."

"Are you alright?" asked Fishclaw leaning against the doorway. "You should leave quickly before the fire grows."

"Nah nah, we both got this, sumbody oughta put this fire out before it spreads, we'll be fine."

"Are you certain? You are wounded even."

"Ah can handle mahself," she waved a hand off from them, "yer part is done. You all done good, you helped us out, now thuh lespir's contained an' y'all can head back on home to yer families."

"Really?" asked Eggfang stumbling with her burnt legs. "W-was that all you needed of us?"

"Mmhmm! Adenine's waitin' outside fer you, he got sum med supplies for ya to heal up yer wounds with before ya leave."

"Then let us go. Will we see you again?"

"Prob'ly not," said the gator shrugging with one hand whilst clutching her stomach with the other, "once we put out thuh fire we're gonna leave, thuh lespir's dealt with an' he ain't gonna bother anybody again."

"Alrigh' zhen," said the kaprosuchus shrugging to turn tail and leave, "wuzh great meetin' you Ruby, zhank ya fer helpin' uszh!"

"Farewell Ruby and Rose," said Fishclaw bowing, "thank you again for helping us."

"Tweren' nuthin'. Take care y'all."

The feral party left, somewhat confused and in pain from their various injuries as they hobbled through the corridors over decaying bodies and hallways filled with darkness. Frozentongue propped Fishclaw against her body and let Eggfang onto her back when walking became too painful.

"I feel...something is missing," she said.

"You too?" replied the croc. "Lahk we didn' finiszh zhe hunt?"

"Exactly...is it because we have hunted a beast we cannot eat?"

"Perhaps," muttered Fishclaw with bloodied ears, "but I think...h-hhhh...I think it is because we do not know WHY this firebeast has come here."

"Why do ANY zhtarbeazhtszh come here?" said Frozentongue. "No reaszhon to come to our land, but zhey do. Whut'zh different abou' zhizh one?"

"I...I suppose you are right then. I only wish that we never had to return to this place."

"Agreed," said Eggfang sighing remorsefully, "if we do not return here again then it will be too soon."

They saw the light outside through the old ventilation shaft, past the mountainous corpse of the greatbeast where Adenine was waiting.

"Hey there! Woah jeez you guys look messed up, you all okay?"

"Can you heal us please?" asked Fishclaw gasping from a migraine.

"U-uhhh sure, but where's Miss Ruby and Rose?"

"They are stopping a fire inside," said Eggfang as the chemist pulled out a salve to wrap her feet in, "a-a-aaaaaAGH!"

"S-sorry, jeez that's some crazy burn you got there."

"N-nnnNNNGH! What matters is the firebeast is dealt with. We are returning home."

"Nah-uh, not with those wounds we're taking you back to the village where you all can rest up. Just, lemme ask Miss Ruby something before we leave, can you guys wait here?"

"Alright. Let us rest for a moment."

Heading back through the hallways Adenine followed the smell of oil to where the hangar continued burning. The two priestesses were already busy eliminating the fire with dark suppressive energies that snuffed out the life of the flames, sucking the air free from them until only smoke remained.

"Is it over?" he asked from the doorway.

"Yes."

The young lizard Rose turned towards him with a tender smile in her voice.

"You boys played your part exceptionally. Thank you for this."

"O-oh jeez I forgot you uh...y-you talked."

"Ah admit ah did too," said Ruby patting her back, "who'd ever wanna keep a pretty voice lahk thet all locked up?"

"When I play a part I do it with gusto," said Rose primly with a fist to her chest. "Are the raptors alright Adenine?"

"Yeah I gave them a few salves and cleaned 'em up," said the alchemist rubbing his sleeve, "just gonna take 'em back to the village an' let them sleep."

"Is something wrong? You seem stressed."

"I just...I just don't like all these hidden truths, why can't we just tell them what we wanna do?!"

"Cuz after thuh first spirit they's met bein' him," said Ruby pointing at the compact mirror, "ah'd rather not confuse 'em with uncomfortable truths."

"I just don't get how nobody else realised what you were, I mean it seems kinda obvious to me!"

"Then let's keep it thet way. Yer work here's done, we don' need anymore from you."

"Soooo is that it?" asked Ade rubbing his neck. "Cuz I feel real bad about taking miss Anna's mirror like that."

"It's for the greater good," said the young lizard stepping forwards, "we shall never ask you for anything else so you can return to your duties."

"But clean up thet salt first," said the gator priest, "don' wanna be trapped here lahk this 'un's gonna be fer thuh next few years."

"Sure sure." He bent down to scoop up the salt clean from the doorway to put back into a bottle. "You know I'm gonna have to report this to the humans right?"

"Don' matter to me, we'll be gone bah then."

"Alright...you uh, you take care alright? I'll tell Bose you said goodbye."

"Wait-NN-NNNGH DAMMIT!" Mizz Ruby stepped forwards with a shuddering clutch of her belly. "Two things ah wanna ask ye. Wun, there's a...there's a room back there, down thuh hallway there's a glass jar with sum uh...raptor claws inside of it. The raptors wan' thet to take with 'em back home."

"Wh-what?! Why?!"

"It is a gift," said Rose putting her hands behind her back, "a small token for all they've done, don't worry it's nothing harmful! Just something important to their family."

"Uhhh...a-alright then. What's the other thing?"

"When you's git back outside," continued Ruby, "there's a...there's a handgun on thuh floor next to thet giant T-rex, take thet too an' make sure it's unloaded, thet's another gift fer them."

"Uhhhh...oh-kay, is that all?"

"Yep, now be off wit'you an' don' forget to clear thet salt from the entrance too."

"Alrighty then...so uh, bye."

The chemist slinked away unceremoniously as the atmosphere changed in the old hangar bay. A sense of clarity sparked through the reptiles' minds feeling strangely no longer trapped as Mizz Ruby started to feel the light of a dozen flickering green flames consume her deep black robe.

"Hope ah done enough good to keep favours with thuh other side," she said smiling.

"I hope so too," said Rose whose body swarmed with deepening purple, "you have done so much for me...and for them."

"Just lemme know how it goes when y'all done with this...nnngh," the vodou priestess stuttered as she felt black ooze spilling out in chunks, "g-god damn thet boah got me fierce."

"Are you alright?" Rose moved to her side and gently pressed a hand to her chest. "O-oh...ohhh I am so sorry I did not realise how-"

"Is fine is fine, ah handled worse," she said softly pushing her away, "nuthin' a li'l rest in peace won' handle fer sure."

"Hahaha, I suppose so."

"So..." the gator turned back towards the circle and its prisoner, "how long this gon' take?"

"When Oddclaw is ready," said Rose looking on at the mirror sealed, "it would be unfair to do anything now when he has children to look after."

"Any idea when thet'll be?"

"About four years, give or take a few months. I explained that to Noh'jhin and he agrees that that is a good spate of time."

"This is an awful lotta preparation fer sumthin' that may never happen."

"I cannot leave it to chance." The girl looked up towards Ruby with determined look. "If there is even the slightest chance of it happening then I must do all I can to stop it or at least help those in this world to face it when it comes. It was sheer luck that Shantae had managed to corral him here so soon, I was not expecting that!"

"She shure soun' lahk a good 'un," said Ruby stroking her scalp, "if she were able to drag this boah down thissa ways she must be good.."

"The girl has exceptional talent against the unknown. She may have played a small part, but without her this plan would never have come to fruition so smoothly. I can not waste this chance Ruby. I cannot lose this chance, this gift that I have been given."

"I understand." The priestess placed a hand on her shoulder as her face started to fade to black. "Yer doin' an awful lot fer this one boah."

"I know," she replied within a haze of purple smoke, "I owe him a debt. I owe it to him and his family for what I did and this is the least I can do. Thank you for helping me Mizz Ruby."

"Ah wish you thuh best of luck...'Rosie'."

In the bleakest ruins of the old human base two lights would fade. One would descend upwards as a pool of fire coated the ceiling with burning tongues of purest jade. The other would be a shadow of crimson indigo, billowing like the wind through the aged corridors and disappearing through the walls as a whispering cackle echoed throughout the place. Adenine would not forget this laugh, pulling his hood down in fear as he said nothing whilst walking the raptors and kaprosuchus back towards the village of Mohberrin.