FSE

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_ Tobi _

All of them were tense as they walked down the hallway. Every small noise made had one of them jumping at shadows, especially Val. He couldn't help wondering for a moment how this nervous, only semi-skilled wulf in front of him was supposed to have gone through multiple years of training. He then focused on what lie ahead of them, the challenge that would serve as the end of their journey, either as a success, Val joining the King's Rangers, and Rengar and Tobi being set free to do their own thing again, or... Well, that just wasn't worth thinking about. Honestly, they even made a pretty good team, Val for the tracking, and his skill with a bow, Rengar's pure brute strength and intimidation, and his magic, not that he'd exactly done much with that so far, tending more towards his charisma as his way of managing. Heh, it just meant when it comes down to it, he could do even better! Of course everything would be fine! He even managed to put a little skip in his step, even in the corridor that just felt so long.

It wasn't actually that long, maybe a minute? But it felt like an eternity before they found an iron, barred door in front of them, something... Wrong about it. It took him a second to realize that he couldn't see through the darkness on the other side. None of them could. What the...? Rengar pushed on it, easily opening it, and they waited for a moment. "Here, I can..." Val spoke up behind him, and suddenly a flare of light, shining from the torch the wulf was now carrying. A good idea unfortunately proven wrong, as they walked forward, the darkness smothered the light, removing their view once again. With no other choice, they pushed forward.

_ Val _

They hadn't walked long before a noise sounded behind them, a clang that felt as loud as Tobi's spell earlier, ringing through his body, as the darkness dissipated. As the darkness slowly creepes away a room became visible, a wall of cages on all sides, creatures of varying size and shape in each, all eyes on them. And, in the two corners of the room opposite, stood... Two of the same person? A drow, a dark elf, wearing a cloak black as night, hiding most of his face besides glowing red eyes, each wielding a scimitar, pointed at them. A noise behind them showing two other figures of the same individual at the door. When they spoke, it echoed throughout the room as every figure spoke, the same breathy words, the same moment, Val's hackles raising involuntarily at the sound. "Finally, I have been waiting for you... Too long, my pets were getting bored. Come, my dear! My chosen one!" Val looked back and forth, searching, trying to figure out if all of them were real, or what this magic was, as the figures slowly paced the circle around them, meeting back up with the ones by the door, as a monstrosity only from legend climbed down from the ceiling. With a torso and legs of the king of the jungle, a lion, a tail ridged with spines, and the head of a human, this creature moved to stand next to the Guildmaster (for who else could this be?) he raised his hands, all four figures moving at once, "My manticore and I shall easily be able to stand against this challenge. However, if you stand down, I will continue your little existence, after all my other pets need the training, I've been focused on this beauty right here... What is your choice?" He heard a murmur from in front of him, Rengar whispering, "She said we could win it..." and then, with a growl, charged forward, towards the beings in front of him, and so the combat begun.

Rengar roared as he pounced, slamming his battle axe through one of the figures, cracking the floor tile as one of the figures disappeared. "Hah, illusions won't save you for long!" Val strafed to the side, marking the manticore in his eyes, even while it's tail vibrated, preparing for it's next action, firing an arrow straight for it's eye. Somehow, here at the end of their journey, he felt more calm. He steadied himself. Just like in training. Nock it, draw back, take a deep breath, and then... release." the arrow soared directly through its eye, a perfect shot. Leaking pus out of its eye, it roared back at him, returning fire with spines launched out of the tail, two of them piercing through Val's armor and shoulder, causing him to yell out in pain as they burned in his body. The Guildmaster tried to stab towards Rengar, but the ursari was prepared, deflecting it aside easily. Hissing in annoyance, he thrust one hand into his cloak, and, suddenly, around Val another rose, made of stone, wrapping around him, holding him in place. He pushed against it in vain, being slowly crushed. Dimly, even through the pain, he heard Tobi say "We can't... Not trained, you say? Vengeance to you then!" and Tobi released that loud noise from before, the door of the cage behind the Guildmaster opening with a creak, a swarm of rats and bugs maneuvering towards him. He then loosed a firebolt towards the guildmaster, the bolt singeing the cloak. He let out a small gasp, before yelling out, "That's the one! Hit that one!" Rengar pushed forward, practically pushing the edge of the axe towards the figure, but they ducked to the side. Val tried again, but in as much pain as he was in, it made it hard to break the earthen case around him. But still, it seemed like they were actually doing well! If they could deal with the Guildmaster quickly emough, they could then kill the manticore. However, the manticore had other ideas, charging forward to protect it's master, biting and tearing into Rengar, though only one seemed to even leave an impact, the scarred ursari focused only on his opponent. Seeing his chance, Tobi muttered an incantation, throwing his arm out, causing an earthquake around the enemy. The manticore fell prone, an easy target for the bear in front of him... And the creatures behind, starving for any prey, anything to eat since their captivity. The rats failed to make much headway, but the insects put in work, burying their way under the lion torso. Slowly but surely they made their progress, Val using a health potion to keep his strength up, Rengar breaking the enemy's concentration for just a moment, weakening the grip, allowing him to break free, loosing off one final arrow, piercing through the mirror image all the way through the shadow armor, piercing the Guildmaster through the heart. The figure sank to the ground, slumping against the barred gate, eyes wide in shock. "W-What? It... It wasn't-" and with a sickening_shlunk _the head of a battle axe appearing, severing the neck from the body. Indeed, once the Guildmaster was killed, the manticore was quickly killed, and left for the animals there. Hearts singing, exiting the guild quickly and carefully. Rengar seemed to be looking for something... Or someone? Val didn't care. He was finally going to achieve his dreams! Everything he'd worked for, despite the best attempts of those close to him, he made it. All they had to do was get back home. Almost there.