From the ash, solid platforms formed in a spiraling stairway, using the earth and remnants of trees as reinforcements. Darkness swirled around endlessly; a field of black death that rippled and crackled with immeasurable amounts of violet veins. A wall erected upwards, hewn of stone and bark that seemed to stretch on without end. Wind swirled around the whole mass, howling sharply into the gloom with its reservations and grudges kicking up the loose dust of the structure.

Running upon the spiral path, both panting for breath, the twins tried to outrun the shadows that were hot on their heels. The platform disintegrated behind them, yet kept stretching onwards to taunt them. Sarah flew, harp and halberd in claw at first before they were made to vanish in twin flashes of green as her sister scrambled to keep pace. Her bow and arrow had also been made to vanish, but her claws offered little help in gaining traction—they dug into the ground, kicking up dirt behind her as they splintered.

The strong gales that buffetted them both weren't helping in the least. They would wane and rise at random, letting Sarah ride them one moment only to knock her back the next. The ash and dust kept them staggering and swatting in an attempt to prevent blindness, only further slowing Anna down as she didn't exactly have any free limbs to do much swatting. The tremors that came as the mass fell behind them always ensured the shadows were exactly one step behind the pair.

There was no turning back. There was only forward, and the desire to be free of this madness instead turned its back to the fleeing twins.

As she ran, Anna's false wings decided to make a comeback, tearing out of her back and flapping madly enough that she didn't care how it would affect her run. Her gallop went from frantic to stumbling and disoriented as her flesh tore once more, and through the haze of pain she began dancing dangerously close to the precipice's edge. Sarah had to decelerate a little to push her sibling back onto the main path when one barky claw slipped, though the harried pace was kept as the shadows kept gaining on them.

Minor though the resultant speed boost was—in stark contrast to the unbearable agony—it did not help at all, instead spraying her blood everywhere it could. Worse, mid-flap, the pairs decided to merge; branches contorted, reoriented, jostled for position, dragging the less-than-useless leaves with them. What little flesh was between the bark only further mangled and oozed as they transformed of their own volition.

Some bits of bark instead pulled itself aside, anchored itself to new points, forming hideous plates that flailed with all the nonexistent grace it could muster. Mockeries of ulnar and humeral and other such bones joined as one, dragging themselves through the massive bleeding scars they erected to meet mere inches behind the withers. New joints formed, barely resembling the digits of an unaltered pegasus and stretching as wide as they could go in their owner's mad dash for safety.

The edge of the path seemed a tempting fare, but Anna stayed away from that temptation. Promising as jumping sounded, she didn't fancy an endless fall or worse, even in her disoriented, unenviable state that had yet to correct its stumble. There was no telling what this darkness would do to her or Sarah if she even tried to leap. Her claws veered off-course, almost dragging her to the edge again before her sister shoved her back on track.

Through the haze of pain, the alarm bells still sang with urgency as Anna tried her best to follow that endless corkscrew of a road. Another tremor from behind pushed her forward, and she almost fell before her claws found purchase and steadied her sprint. A stray vine tilted her as she swayed, grabbing the breaking wall for support and leverage as she leaned the opposite way. Another shove from Sarah had her running as straight as she could, the vine breaking off at the halfway point to join the shadow as it hovered threateningly behind the pair.

The wing-mockeries stopped spraying blood after a few minutes and changed course from flapping to pushing down on the ground like extra legs, allowing yet another minor boost in speed to aid their owner as well as steadying her that much more. Though, Anna was almost certain she hadn't made the mental command for them to do so; they just did, of their own volition. And thanks to the motion bringing with it another outcry of pained nerves in their sudden redirection, she was going to have those damned things cut off once she got off this winding road.

She kept galloping, gradually easing herself into a frantic rhythm even as her brain screeched to an abrupt halt, did a double-take, and then proceeded to engage all of the panic buttons at once. The winds picking up in speed just enough that it tossed her wings off the ground and snapping backwards over her tail only cinched it. Chills ran up her spine and down every inch of bark as horror began sinking its claws into her.

Anna turned to the wall, the air itself burning at her eyes with how fast it was hitting her as she scanned frantically for any change in the environment. But it was constantly breaking apart, tearing away all but the most notable of changes within milliseconds—just enough that she noted that the roots should not have been here if this was what her flailing panic started screeching about.

She turned ahead again, squinting her eyes to lessen their pain. Her pace picked up, and so did Sarah's. The shadows' pace did, too. The wind's did as well, as she noticed her claws began digging deeper furrows despite her best efforts. Some part of her swore this place wanted her to fall into the darkness, but she held her tongue and musings before either could go too far. Chancing things here and now would not be ideal in light of the situation at hoof.

A voice echoed throughout the darkness, somehow ringing clearly through the wind itself despite its raspiness and hollowness, "Why do you two continue to run?"

Neither twin answered. They couldn't afford to waste breath with words. Only a mute glance between them and a brief nod was all the answer the voice was given. Sarah flapped her wings harder, compensating for the wind's assault as Anna kept up with her scrambling. Leaves began snapping off the false wings, some in halves and others whole while the false horn began to bend ever so slightly in the onslaught; splinters were already peeling away to join the darkness.

Neither twin noticed. Neither particularly cared.

That damnable voice, ever-present yet fleeting, decided to taunt them further, "Sinners like you deserve no reprieve nor rest! No hope, save for the worst your inner darkness has to offer!"

It didn't take long after that utterance for a familiar yet unwelcome hole-in-the-wall to make its appearance. Worse, wind howled from it; it was enough to send the twins staggering to the edge of the precipice. Anna shrieked as she turned her body to the hole, just in time to grip the edge with her front claws as her hinds scrabbled at the darkened air. Her wing-mockeries flailed again as Sarah rushed to her side.

Anna's blood pounded into her ears, drowning out all else as she tried to pull herself up and move away from the crumbling fragments at the same time. Vines flailed, likewise scrambling for desperate purchase as her claws dug furrows into the soil. The wind angled itself, she could've sworn, trying to shove her over the edge to which she clung. She could not feel her sister's claws, and dread sank in as she wondered if, perhaps, she'd been swallowed too.

She dared look to her left. The shadows were gaining now. Her pupils shrank and she doubled her efforts to climb back onto the fragmenting path. Her wings kept flailing, but anything they could touch only served to push her up. She saw magic pulsing across her claws and heaved, feeling her grip tightening upon her bastion of safety. A hind managed to find a stray rock and gripped before pushing against it, aided by vines that reached for another rock that she could only feel for.

The wind tried to shove her back once more, and her purchase faltered. The rock began breaking at the edge itself, and Anna's panic skyrocketed as she saw those warbling cracks erecting themselves around her claws. The wind slowed down its attempts to knock her off, but it didn't matter; it knew there was little chance she could hold on much longer. The rocks in her grip tilted, started loosening, and Anna let go before reaching beyond them to try her luck with other stones.

Talons and tarsi wrapped around her bloody midsection and pushed just as she managed a more solid hold. Yet relief did not surge through Anna's blood as she was helped back onto the path, just in time to see the wall around the hole crumbling. She turned as soon as her hinds hit the ground, and took off to resume her sprint with the claws still clutching her. After a minute, though, they reached up to wrap around her barrel to hang tight. She felt weight on her back, and another tail overlapping hers.

Anna silently nodded to herself. This was better than the darkness claiming her sister. She felt teeth gripping her mane and pull it towards the wall, and she started to turn that way when her claws danced to the edge again. She veered to where her sister seemed to want her to go, false wings parting with a few more leaves as they redirected to the ground once again and helped push forward.

She felt feathers brushing up against her false joints and heard flapping, feeling herself gain in speed. Anna kept charging ahead, even as she spied three shadows idling about on the path. Her horn glowed and she and her sister vanished in a flash of light before the trio could so much as look in their direction. Reappearing behind them, she kept going with reckless fervor, tuning out surprised screams that she assumed came from the darkness as it swallowed its smaller, unaware brethren.

An errant rock almost sent her tripping once more as it connected with her claw and tossed her momentum aside, but Sarah simply flapped her wings harder and lifted her sister up to compensate for the sudden obstruction. Once this was done, she came in to help her twin land so she could resume the sprint.

The wind picked up on this, though, and started to buffet them once more in an effort to stall them. Anna continued to fight against the bluster, gritting her teeth as it tried to sweep her claws out from under her body. She felt blood land on her snout, and recoiled slightly as it trailed down to let itself into her mouth.

Soon after, she came across a mangled body only barely recognizable as a pony. It moved on its own accord, rose onto its clawed hooves, and looked her dead in the eye with its own glazed pair. It tried to swipe at her as she passed, but was too slow with the strike, and by the time it connected with the ground the twins were already gone. Another scream tore through the darkness, and Anna winced at its breathlessness even as she pondered about where the corpse had come from.

Part of the wall moved, and out stretched a clawed branch that tried to block them. Anna teleported past that, and received another piercing scream coming from behind as she continued up the road. Unearthly grating was its tone, hollow was its voice, and shrill was its inflection—a combination that made her ears shiver and recoil just hearing it.

"This is what your silence has led to!" the voice declared, venom dripping from its tone. "The suffering of those you left to rot and ruin!" More corpses came up on the bend, shambling and moaning pitifully as they tried to reach them with barky hooves outstretched and torn throats flailing uselessly in the tempest. Sarah pulled Anna up and flew over them with her seamlessly, earning more cries of anguish as she landed and let her sister keep on running.

Anna didn't want to know how the trees and corpses were suddenly animate, having seen their desecration with her own eyes. She kept going, ears pinned back against her head as her mental gears span and scrambled out of place in an attempt to make sense of this madness. Another clawed branch made to obstruct her, but she jumped over it smoothly, dislodging a few leaves off her false wings in the process of landing.

She forced herself not to care about the logistics, just on getting away. She felt Sarah pressing into her back, and nodded in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture. The wall seemed to shift now, cracks forming ahead and pulsing with plant matter that should not have been moving, yet was. Faces leered out, silently screaming and damning the twins with their deepened, almost-stretched scowls.

She forced herself to not look into those hate-filled expressions. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of their myriad of metaphorical daggers, yet she was anyway. She winced as her false wings scraped a couple of them with her frantic passing. She could've sworn some oozed blood or something similar in consistency to it, splashing itself against her cursed hide to further paint it in ugly hues.

"And yet, you have the gall to remain quiet, even now?!" the voice demanded, harshness oozing from its tone as much as contempt. She was certain the source was glaring at her and Sarah now; the tone left little else to her scrambling imagination.

Trees parted from the wall, twisted faces scowling as they formed a barricade in an attempt to stop the twins' hopes for freedom. Anna conjured the halberd and swung it madly, knocking one tree over the edge and another back into the wall. The third and fourth had arrows thunked into their hides, fire erupting from crimson crystals to char and stagger them out of her way. The last two were simply teleported past, and Anna made the halberd vanish before continuing onward.

More emerged after the first six. She simply ducked under the branches this time, being mindful of the flailing roots that tried to snag her claws. One grabbed her tail, and was knocked aside by another swing of the resummoned halberd. A second tried to reach for her face, and was torched by red crystal-tipped arrows for its trouble. A third tried to arc over her, only to be teleported past without any iota of recognition.

All of the trees screamed as they were subsumed by the shadows. Their cries were the same as that of the first corpse she had evaded, except with gargling notes that made them less and less equine the longer she listened to them.

"You see your own brethren as enemies… perhaps you never truly belonged in that little village after all," the voice hissed. Anna could almost hear its owner shaking its head with the statement. "Pity that you won't stop and help them even though the worlds are ending…"

Anna felt her stomach and heart drop and clench at that statement. Was it true after all? Or was the owner of the voice screwing with her in an effort to make her succumb to the shadows on her heels? She felt Sarah tensing against her back, and shuddered even as she sprinted.

If both worlds were ending… then she'd have to leave this corkscrewing path faster. That was enough to further stoke the inner fire that fueled her dash, and it tempered her resolve. It wasn't like she hadn't tackled worse before, after all. Even a madpony like her could see that much.

More corpses came up, and were promptly knocked over the edge with a swing by a summoned halberd before they had the chance to reach the twins. The corkscrew that didn't end seemed to be straightening ever so slightly, though Anna decided not to hedge any bets just yet.

There wouldn't be a chance to do so anyway, with her current list of priorities.

"You are just like he whom you'd rather forget, the both of you," the voice said scathingly, as more trees parted from the wall to stop the advance cold. Anna's horn lit up, and she levitated up and over the barricade with as much speed as the spell would allow. "Thinking you are doing good by keeping quiet, staying in denial… ignorant of the true damage your silence causes."

She landed behind the trees, forced herself to ignore the screams, and kept sprinting. Sarah whimpered in her hair, and her grip tightened. Anna felt the sting in the voice's words, but snorted and pressed on. "And when you do decide to show yourselves… as you truly are..."

More corpses swarmed ahead. Anna impaled them with arrows and ran through the resultant flames. Her wings, perhaps sensing fire, closed tight at her sides for once, as did Sarah's own pair. Even ablaze, the corpses tried to strike and slow them down, only for pieces of their legs to fall off mere inches from theirs. Screams did not come from them this time; only the flames at her heels that, too, were subsumed by sable.

"... you cause yet more damage in an effort to mend things. Isn't that the same as destruction?"

Anna's breath hitched at that one, but she could do nothing else save run. Her chest clenched at the harshness of the voice's words, idly wondering if it was the Tormentor or some other entity berating her. She wouldn't have been surprised at either option, and swallowed her nerves to better control them.

She could not let them control her. She could not succumb. If there was a way out, she'd seize it and drag her sister with her. Ponies before her fell, died in the shadows, and their number was as countless as the stars. They didn't have the means or knowledge that she had. She was not going to join that lot anytime soon.

Her legs kept moving. Her mind kept racing. Her nerves screamed for her to stop.

She didn't heed the pleas of her own body. She couldn't afford to. She wondered if time was on her side or against it.

"You abandoned them to their fate. They have abandoned you to yours."

Corpses and trees emerged in tandem, but Anna had grown numb to it. A pelting of arrows sent the tide staggering, ablaze, and moaning even as they tried to grab her. Charging through the burning crowd, the twins winced at the smoke and stench wafting from the myriad of bodies—bodies who once had identities and dreams and aspirations at some point in their lives.

Bodies who were, once, just like them.

Bodies cast aside to secure her and Sarah's own freedom. Fed to the fire and the wolves.

The sting still rang through her nerves, flaring with pain, begging her to stop her rampage and succumb to the darkness that swallowed all else behind her. Anna kept running, trying to be heedless of what she was doing—though her subconscious pulled levers in her brain, bringing everything to the forefront of her mind where she could not ignore it for long.

Tears welled in her eyes, but she held fast to them. She refused to let them fall here and now, even as the blaze she wrought threatened to wrench them from her eyes with its baleful glow and acrid, rot-scented smoke.

The guilt had to be swallowed, forced into the pits of her soul. It could be dealt with later.

"You follow an insane stallion… for what gain? What hope do you have against your own sins?"

Anna tried to ignore that damnable voice, certain that its owner was behind her now, gaining even as she ducked to dodge a wayward, smouldering claw belonging to a mangled pony. She jumped over a branch, only to skid to a halt as more reached for her. Sarah flapped, dragging them both into the air and over the scorched lot that now seemed to stretch on and on a surprisingly straight path.

Glancing ahead, Anna spotted a clear patch between stone gates lined with withering vines. She gestured there, and felt Sarah nod against her neck. Down that way they went, and Anna hit the ground running. More screams echoed from behind, and Anna could've sworn she felt heat licking her hind claws.

Daring to look over her burdened shoulders, she gasped as she saw the burning corpses running after her, some falling apart even as they struggled to keep pace with her while others remained surprisingly intact. She ran faster, passing under another stone gate that fell behind her tail, the tremors of which almost sent her skidding. Another quick flap from Sarah, though, and her stride resumed course.

She tossed another glance behind her as soon as she rebalanced. She noticed the corpses trying to jump their way over the fallen gate, scrabbling to catch up. A tree came over and shoved the rubble aside with a branch, letting it fall into the darkness and the smouldering crowd focused once again on trying to catch their evasive prey. Sarah kicked at one of her haunches, and Anna turned back ahead before picking up her speed as much as she could.

"Your sins keep mounting, little fillies. Denial only gets you both so far. Your shared penance is long overdue."

The burning ones were catching up, even as the gates collapsed to bar their path. Anna's breathing started to labor; her vision began to blur at the edges as she kept sprinting. She heard rubble being shoved aside, and felt heat licking at her haunches. Eyes burning as her vision struggled to focus, she noticed something standing out in the darkness up ahead. She shook her head in an attempt to better see what that was amidst the field that was half-submerged in black death.

The first try didn't clear the budding tears, and the second time failed to dry them. She kept going anyway, figuring the smoke-sting was only now dying. The stench still clouded her nostrils, threatened to suffocate her if she ever let herself and Sarah enter its depths again. There was no chance in hell she was going to let that happen, here and now. They had to get out. They had to make it through this, no matter what the Tormentor did or wanted.

Heat licked at them both. Anna was certain she was at her fastest now, despite the threat of imminent immolation behind her tail. The glow of orange-red was coming closer, growing brighter, shining against the glossy leaves of the vines before withering them.

The guilt tried to resurface. She swallowed it down again with a bitter wince.

"After all… what is destruction…"

A plateau stretched before them, lined with stone henges and more gates. In the center stood a mangled, massive tree with a crown of flowers, roots desecrating the ground as it scrambled to find something—anything—to stop itself cold. Its horn glowed, and Anna felt her dread spiking at what she beheld and was fast approaching.

Behind her, flames and bodies covered in them howled and screamed in a chorus of hissing, gargling whines that echoed ceaselessly—almost baying for her and Sarah's blood. Anna could do nothing at this rate; succumbing to the darkness wouldn't do, and she'd be damned if the crowd behind her ever sank their torched claws into her cursed hide. The tree up ahead was only focused on one thing at the moment, and whatever it was, she could ignore it until she reached its patch in the path.

It grew closer and closer, but so did the heat and certain death on her heels. Sarah squawked, and Anna's false wings took the hint, grappling the ground to speed up the maddened rush however it could.

"... but…"

Another gate fell. It mattered little to the congregation behind the pair. The remnants were shoved aside, as more and more of them fell apart. The plateau grew closer still, and Anna could see the flowers of the tree spitting seeds as it blindly charged back and forth in its bastion. Another glance over her shoulder confirmed that the darkness wasn't swallowing the crowd as it had with the path earlier… or maybe it was, but the glow of the flames had drowned that out. But she could not see the broken gates past that sweltering mass of anarchy and dismay.

She turned back ahead, seeing another gate starting to crumble farther along the road. She lit up her horn and teleported past it and the one behind it, digging new furrows into the ground as she sighted the final gate, the farthest of the lot—miles ahead at the least, separated from the one she just passed by a whole stretch of barren land. Hope and dread surged in equal measure throughout the pair's veins; whether that bastion meant certain death or freedom didn't matter as much as getting there to see which held true.

"... desecration…"

The final sprint was upon them; Anna now knew that much. Her body ached for her to stop, her heart thundered in her chest, and her eyes continued to burn with the sting of fire and what little guilt she couldn't force back down. But she wouldn't forgive herself if she ceased now.

The moving flames kept gaining. She heard more rubble being cast away. The moans of the dead, and the howling of the trees grated her ears. Sarah kicked again, but this time she did it with a squawking whine leaving her mouth. Anna shook her head, legs at their absolute fastest. They weren't the blur of Rainbow's wings, nor the grace of Flash Sentry, but this would have to do.

She hoped it would be enough. It had to be.

The glow behind brightened, the heat close behind it. She felt one barky plate on a hind hock withering and starting to peel away. A vine on that same leg joined it, shriveling and writhing with a force that made the flesh beneath the plates ripple. She could ascertain damages later, when there was time.

The vine pulled itself out and let itself be consumed. The peeling plate followed it. A few wing-leaves joined them. Yet the growing, grating chorus continued with its horrid symphony and stampede. Anna turned her head back, just in time to see a massive branch wreathed in fire reaching out to her and Sarah. It was so close she could taste the ash in the air, smoke-riddled with a sharp and bitter note that made her skin crawl. She turned back, her horn lit up and she teleported a few paces ahead to keep some distance.

The claw came down on empty land, scattering embers with the impact. The stampede continued to follow, still howling and baying, and Anna threw another glance over her shoulder. The faces of the crowd were now twisted impossibly by fire and mutilation; it was less physical and more demonic, with hate-filled glares all directed towards her. Embers swirled the whole mass, fed by the wind, rising into a veritable column of destruction and death that continually closed the distance.

Some of those voices in that horrible crowd, she could've sworn, had tried calling her name. Her skin crawled again. Her attention went back to the final gate. It was in reach, just another mile or two…!

"... desolation…"

The flaming herd shrieked in a unified, crackling note that sent her stumbling and decelerating. She immediately rectified this, running back at full speed within seconds—seconds that the heat and death used to catch up to her and lick at her hinds once more. A claw grabbed her, and she kicked at its owner with a scream as fire burned away bark and assaulted the torn flesh beneath. The hit was solid; the attacker let go with a snap and a crunch, and she was free to resume running to the plateau with a few plates falling away from the new wound. Her run managed to stomp out any embers that clung to the undersides of her barky hooves—or she hoped it would, as she didn't fancy having burnt legs to contend with on top of everything else.

Another one tried to grab. Anna didn't even look; just ignited her horn and teleported a few paces ahead to compensate for her fresh injury. She slowed a teensy bit, but that she could not do anything about; she was probably going to be limping for a while after this, and would certainly feel this for weeks to come.

None of that mattered now. She had no choice but to get away.

Another mile, at the minimum, lay before her, whole and untouched. She'd have to run that much to get there, and risk straining her now-hurt leg further to do it. She weighed her options quickly and shook her head, before igniting her horn once again. She studied the land leading to the bastion and nodded to herself. It would have to do. In a flash she disappeared, and reappeared mere feet behind the final gate, pausing to chance another glance behind her.

The stampede howled as they raced to reach the bastion, the bodies within the flames nothing but smouldering shadows now. Some still fell apart, but most remained intact. All were galloping, their pace frantic, their claws swiping at air for another taste of her bewitched blood. She could no longer recognize them as ponies and trees; now, they were impossible shapes with hate-filled faces, each one biting and snapping with fervor.

None of them would get another chance to grab her. She turned around again.

Anna passed under the final gate and galloped around the massive tree as it charged to her left and smashed into henges. She looked at the gate she had come in from and saw the path crumbling away, along with the tide of smoke, rot, and fire that still tried to reach the bastion. A few trees and corpses grasped the edge, clung, tried to climb and erect their own footholds before the roots from the larger, unburnt tree came over to knock them all aside into the shadows. The lesser trees and mangled ponies screamed as they plummeted to their doom, and the fires went with them, leaving just the bastion and those who stood on its scar-torn surface.

For a moment, silence reigned as the three stood there, letting the last echo of the collective death rattle fade away into the darkness as everything else had done before it. Wind whistled between the henges, scattering the loose soil and sending some of it over the singular, jagged edge that spanned the whole island. Anna looked at the henges, noticing that the lot of them were marked from top to bottom with runes that had smoothed out over time.

Some of the henges had scratches streaking their surfaces, but none were deep enough to blemish and mangle the runes. She idly wondered if that was a good or bad thing, before turning her attention to the only other soul present. Sarah shrugged at her, and both turned back to the massive tree as its branches twisted and cracked with another passing gale. Anna checked her wounded hind leg and winced; burnt, bleeding, and riddled with scars old and new… but still usable. No embers to be seen. That much was good; she could wrap the whole limb up later.

The wind petered out, and silence held again for another long moment. Anna turned to the massive tree, unsure of who was going to act first, let alone who was going to do what when that first act came. Her legs tensed, still burning from exertion and a recent wound, and oddly enough, so did her false wings. Sarah also tensed, tail shifting between her own hinds as she mentally prepared for anything to be thrown her way.

The massive tree then turned to the pair and roared, its voice barely equine and gargling as though it were submerged. It rose a claw and swatted at them as it rushed in their direction, and Anna could only teleport away to reappear behind it. More gates stood at the backside of the plateau, but as her hooves touched its soil once more, they crumbled away, leaving only darkness and that one island housing the henges and tree.

".. and damnation?"

Anna turned around, and Sarah dismounted as they faced the monstrosity that turned towards them. She conjured the halberd and handed that to her sister, and did likewise with her bow in her own front claws. The behemoth roared again and scrambled to them, magic working itself from its horn to its roots that spread out in a sickly glow. Anna and Sarah got into the air just as vines and bamboo emerged upwards, shooting in all directions—even impaling their own summoner in a few places, as well as breaking themselves against the henges.

The pair landed on a henge, watching as the behemoth thrashed against its own plants, ripping them out of the ground with its bare claws as they withered and died all around it. Soon enough they turned to ash, leaving just the beast with the glowing horn.

"How are we gonna take that on? My harp's busted…" Sarah lamented, keeping her wings spread as the beast charged towards them. The pair split; Sarah danced upon one set of henges, and Anna went the opposite direction. The monster ran into the henge, cracking it but doing little else.

"And I burnt my flute!" Anna replied, stopping on one set of henges as the tree turned to her and roared. "We'll just have to wing it!" She winced as her false pair spread and angled themselves awkwardly at her sides, and paled as the monster swung its branches in a way that launched those accursed seeds at her. She tucked as much of her body behind her false wings as she could, and the seeds bounced off and landed around the henge with hissing wisps of smoke.

As soon as the barrage had passed, Anna emerged from her false pair and started henge-jumping once more while the behemoth set course to run where she stood. She noted with dismay that she wasn't able to carve runes into the soil at this rate; the tree was too busy breaking it up with its roots. And sooner or later, her wounded and bloody hind leg would give out—it was only a matter of attrition now. She'd have to see how long it would hold in these circumstances.

She studied the henges for a moment, before shaking her head and darting along the island's ring as the tree charged again. It was fruitless to try; the henges were not hers to tamper with. Against this thing, she'd have better luck learning to fly with her false wings—a prospect she wasn't going to tackle anytime soon, with how they acted of their own will.

She was going to have to think of something else, then. All she had here was her sister, a very limited range of weaponry and a distant, almost foalish hope she still clung to.

Running would no longer cut it at this point. Fighting would have to do. And even that didn't look promising, given what she was looking at.