Both Twitch and I ran through the forest, small bits of gravel and a few twigs were sent back with each of our strides. My body felt in amazing condition, no pain from running and no limitation to my movement. I got to admit she did a good job at healing me even if she kind of cheated me. I thought to myself between my strides. My breathing was steady, keeping a good pace both Twitch and I journeyed further into the jungle.

"Celt, how exactly are we going to kill a basilisk?"

I look toward Twitch doing a half flying, half walking type thing, "I do not know."

"How are we going to find it?"

"I do not know."

"Is there anything you do know?"

"I know where you sleep." I speak in a semi serious tone.

"I guess I'll shut up now..."

I laugh, "Good plan."

We continued to dash through the forest in search for the basilisk. I look to the trees and see no shadows had decided to follow us this time. I notice the lack of noise, no birds sung their exotic songs, no beasts roared during the hunt, and no life could be heard. Only the subtle back and forth motions of the trees in the wind filled the air around us. We continued forward searching for some sign of life. A little ways ahead of us a large stone structure stood. The closer we got the more we could see what it was. We reached the statue, it stood on four legs and stood to about my height. It had lion's head, scorpion's tail and a quite large body. Hmmm, no moss or plants on it means it was recently placed, that means...

"Twitch we are getting close to our prey of the day."

Twitch seemed slightly shocked "Wha? H-h-how do you know that?"

"Many reasons, one no noise at all , that usually means everything is dead or ran away. Second this wasn't originally a statue. Now come on we got some basilisk huntin to do."

We begin to march forward, keeping a slower pace than before just in case the basilisk was hiding somewhere nearby. As we progressed further into the forest we began to see more statues of various creature spread around the land. Every statue shared the same expression of fear permanently plastered on their faces. Their eyes completely devoid of life and color.  The further we went in, less life was shown around. We soon found a large trail, as if something had been dragged across the dirt.

We progressed further, following the large track of whatever animal it could be. If every other animal is being turned into a statue then this must be the snake bastard. Soon the trail stopped, both Twitch and I looked at each other. I began to scan the area surrounding us for any sign of the snake. It's as if it just flew off... It suddenly hit me, when I head a slight whistling noise. I grab Twitch and push away from our location just in time to avoid an object crashing on top of our heads. I push myself off the ground and help Twitch up before both he and I face our opponent.

The dust of the crash has finally settled revealing a large serpent like creature. Its body was coiled like a fire hose mounted on the wall. Its appearance in general gave off a vibe of death and despair, its dark scales perfectly lined up reflecting almost all light that hit it. the scales located on its belly were larger and much lighter, they didn't seem to reflect the light as well as its top scales. The body itself was quite thick almost larger then one of those cement pipes that you find at construction sites. Its head was very similar to that of a normal snake, with the exception of the small horns near the back of its head. Its eyes shone yellow, like two large topazes. Long pointed tipped teeth darted out of its mouth.

"Hello David, how's Octacon doing these days?" I speak in a somewhat lax manner.

"I do not know who thissssss David is nor hissss friend. I am..." It then proceeded to make several gurgling noises mixed with hissing, "and you and your friend shall aid me in my quest to assssscend!"

"I'm going to call you Myriam mostly since I don't want to say, " I repeated it's gurgling and hissing noise the best I could, "every time I say your name."

"Celt, why are you naming the thing that wants to kill us?"

I laughed a little, "Kill us? You wouldn't do that would you Myriam?"

Myriam lowered itself slightly to get to eye level, " Not at all I sssssimply wish to feed on your life essssssence in order to asscend to the council but for sssssome reason my attemptssss are not working."

"Ah you see Myriam these," I point toward the glasses on my face, " block any and all eye contact. So I can see your eyes but you can't see mine."

The snake rose back to its original position, "And why would you have thosssssse?"

"The anwsssssser is quite sssssimple." I mock it's voice, "I am here to kill you."

"And the bug?"

"He is here on a school project for career day, he wants to become a professional snake charmer just like me. Now can we get to the fighty part?" I get into a stance and unsheathe my blade.

"I will indulge your wisssssh to fight, but only briefly so that I may continue as I planned."

"Righto, I'll make it fast so you won't miss your train to hell."

The snake lunged forward hissing violently. I quickly dodge to left pushing Twitch to the right. The basilisk flies right by us into a tree. It sunk its teeth into the trunk of the tree lodging them firmly into the timber. I manage to stand myself up just in time to see Myriam rip its teeth from the tree sending splinters every direction.  I shove my blade down toward the end of its tail, the blade slide harmlessly down the scales. Damn the scales are to smooth for my blade to catch an edge. The snake quickly whirled around to face the minor annoyance on its tail. I jump back a few paces in order to get some distance between me and the snake. The snake prepared to lunge just before a ball of flame collided against its face.

I look over and see Twitch's horn smoking slightly from his spell. Hot damn the kid has balls. I rushed toward the basilisk and aimed for the bit of large scales on the belly of the snake. I jump on to its tail and jump once again and slash downward. The blade catches the large white scale which gave some resistance before my blade cut through it. Myriam roared and swung his tail toward me, the tail hit me hard. I skipped along the ground before I stopped. I hear the outraged roars of the snake in front of me.

"How dare you ruin my perfect sssssssscales! I shall desssstroy you!" He shouted in a sharp tone.

Myriam's eyes glowed darkly. His body become encompassed in a dark aura the fluctuated up and down. The ground began to rumble near him. Four large hands shot out from the ground, slowly the hands pushed out the rest of their bodies. Large humanoid structures stood in front of me, their bodies towered over me, dirt and rubble still stuck onto their forms. Their eyes gave off the same glow as Myriam's. Wow this guy must have really liked his scales... The golems began to march toward me. I began to rush toward them.

"Twitch fire off anything you have at them to slow em down. I am about to do something incredibly stupid." I hollered in the middle of my sprint.

Twitch got into a stance, "So same as usual." Smart ass.

The first golem swung down at me, I quickly jumped onto its arm and ran up it. I reached the golem's head and punched downward, smashing the head inward turning it into rubble. Another golem was about to swing down at me when a large chunk of dirt slammed into it sending it onto it's back. I pull out my crossbow and take aim at the nearest golem.

"Ardens Vis!" I shouted on top of my lungs.

A bolt began to form, solid black swirled into a vague shape. Soon flame began to shroud the bolt. The flame burned red only showing subtle hints of the black beneath it. I squeeze the trigger making sure to get the aim correct. The bolt let loose shredding through the wind. The bolt shot through the golem's head, releasing force in every direction causing it's head to explode in separate directions. The body began to fall over, and collapsed with a large thump making some pebbles nearby jump.

"Twitch when I say fire in the hole I want you to shoot out the last ones legs!"

"Why?"

I begin to run forward, "Not the best time to question my methods."

The golem lumbered toward me as I dashed toward it. I was about half way to the golem. Almost.... almost...

"FIRE!"

A large bolt of fired barreled toward the golems legs. The ball bursted taking out the front prochain of its legs. The golem began to tip toward me. Slowly, the stone sentinel hurtled towards me.. I brought my metal arm backwards and timed the right moment to thrust. The golem was about half way down when I jumped forward, quickly extending my arm at its head.

"Shoryuken!" My fist smashed against its head, crunching the stone into pebbles.

The stone soldier landed just in front of my feet. The cold lifeless stone sunk into the ground slightly. I smile at our job and look toward Twitch who also was smiling. My gaze returns to the serpent that had brought the stone giants to life. Myriam's face was covered in rage and fury.  From sheer anger, his eyes gave off a red glint. He gave off a mix of growling and hissing. The aura blazed darker the soft waves it once followed become more jagged. The fallen golems began to shake violently.

Slowly the stone were dragged in front of the basilisk until there was a large pile of boulders and pebbles. The rocks began to hover, slowly swirling in a circle. Twitch walked over to me with a worried face that mimicked my own. I stared as the stones began to hurtle inwards grinding against each other to form a large ball of stone. Soon two thick rock legs erupted from the main ball. The ball changed to from arms and a head. The eyes of the stone goliath came to life. The behemoth towered over both me and the basilisk.  The shadow of this creature blanketed both Twitch and I.

"Twitch, stay away from it and take as many shots as you can to take out one of its legs."

Twitch backed up behind me, "Alright Celt."

I unsheathe my crossbow and hold it firmly in my hands. Let's see it's large so must be slow and must carry a lot of weight. How can I beat it?" The golem lifted its arm and swung downward. I dodged to the side right before the massive fist collides with the earth. The momentous creature lifted its arm from the new crater. Small chunks of dirt fell off the arm. I began to fire off my crossbow, letting loose multiple fire bolts at it's one leg as Twitch bombarded the same leg with offensive spells.  The creature brought it's arm down low and did a swipe, knocking me into a tree causing it to collapse onto the giant. I stand up and take the chance I have. I quickly begin to climb the trunk up to its head, ignoring the pain of my recent crash.

The goliath throws the tree away a second after I made it to its shoulder. Before I hand a clue a massive hand began to descend on me. I take a hard sprint toward its head narrowly avoiding the hand of death crushing my every bone. The stone monster attempts to shake me but I manage to implant my arm into its head.

Weakness, what is it's weakness... the only thing that stands out about the golem is its eyes... So maybe if I overload the eyes!

I remove my fist and punch back into the golem in order to create hand and foot holds. I slowly make my way across the beast, hanging on for dear life and avoiding it's constant attempts to remove me. From down below I hear the basilisk hissing commands at the golem. In a faint voice I hear Twitch cheering for me. I finally manage my way to the front of its eye. I unsheathe my crossbow hold it against the cold illuminated stone.

"Fulgar!"

Light and energy began to form on the bolt. Energy pulsed from the bolt, yellow streaks of power contained within a single form. The energy of the bolt itself made my hair stand on ends. I steady myself and begin to squeeze the trigger. I soon let the bolt take it's short course and collide into the eye. For a brief moment the eye sparked but after that nothing seems to happen. Below I heard the harsh laughter of Myraim. I need more bang for my buck. I use my uru arm and stab a hole into the eye, just big enough for what I planned. I settled the crossbow and shouted.

"Fulgar!"

The same bolt appeared as brilliant as ever. I grab the bolt, and a sudden jolt of energy runs throughout my body. The bolt's form looked stable for now. I shove the bolt as far into the hole as I could. I could feel the energy begin to build up, slowly the power grew and grew until it released at once. The explosion of electricity sent me flying into a tree, where I continued to fall onto low branches or smaller trees. I soon landed beside a tree, my back propped against it. I see Twitch rush to my aid, asking I was alright and if I was alive. I ignore him and watch as the stone that once formed the stone goliath dissemble and crumble to the ground.

A brief smile crosses my face, "Heh, he wasn't so tough."

"You ssssseemed to have forgotten about me." Lisped a sharp voice.

I stare behind Twitch and notice Myriam, "I guess I did," I spit some blood that had collected in my mouth, "now what are you going to do?"

"I shall rip you to sssssshreds and not give you the honor of aiding me asssscend." He positioned himself to strike.

I hear a faint cry from Twitch, "Bring it."

Myriam lunges forward teeth bared and all. I close my eyes accept my fate. Well damn, I killed a god just yesterday and now I die to a snake. Well a giant snake that can turn you to stone but a snake non the less. I thought to myself as I awaited the snake to tear me to shreds. A moment passes and still nothing, I slowly open my eyes and see the mouth of the snake wide open ready to kill but it was frozen in place. I look down and see Twitch with his head firmly pressed into the basilisk. I pull the basilisk away, removing it from Twitch's horn. Blood dripped from his horn onto my leg.

I hold Twitch who was frozen in fear, "You saved me."

"Well, I suppose if I want you to take care of me I should make sure you live." His entire body was shaking.

"Right, Twitch what you did is something you can't take back you know. You will forever know you took the life of another being. How does that make you feel Twitch, to know that for the rest of your life?"

He looks up at me, his face covered in tears, "I don't feel good really, it almost feels like I was punched in the stomach."

"That's good, you feel guilt for killing it. That means you aren't like the monster you killed."

He sniffled a bit, "But I still killed it."

I laugh, "On this journey we will probably kill many things sentient and non. You got to remember that even if you feel guilt or pain of it that you have me and Fenrir."

"Thanks Celt."

I punch Twitch in the side, "Now don't get soft on me bug boy. Come on Fenrir and Terra are waiting for us."

"Alright Celt." Twitch began to run beside me.

We swiftly ran through the forest, ready to face Terra. God I hope this works out.

Next Chapter: Getting Wood (23) Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 50 Minutes