Content Warning

-Arachophobia

-strong language

We've taken a few asides, haven't we? Perhaps its time to catch up? Very well, welcome back to the Recycling Theatre!

Previously on: Glassflower: Ursa and the Scarf Squad.

Setsune was amongst a fleet of ships headed towards the Great City of Rem when they were attacked by the Disaster Beast, Tempestas Glacies, advised by Taipan Twilight. After a hard battle, Ursa defeated Tempestas, but lost the war. The battlefield and her were trapped and encased in black ice.

Ursa broke out, and now seeks to escape this forming Corrupted Gate. At the same time, Crystular Beasts watch her from all sides….

---

Taipan wandered the cavern. Many shadows wandered about her, but paid her no heed. In one hand, she held a black dagger with red edges, and in the other, she rolled a 120 sided die.

She was following thick strands of yellow flowing through the walls. The entire cave was black and gold, a miners’ paradise on the surface, but lacking in the eyes of a businessman. The Corrupted Gate was still a ways off from completion, or there would be a lot less yellow. The Gate didn’t even have a proper Core Beast yet.

“I’m aware, Fabula Loquitor,” Taipan called out in annoyance.

She came across a large wall. It was there where the many strands of yellow were coming from, feeding the black and growing the gate. The wall, however, was still incomplete.

The yellow was pulsing wildly. Cracks started to form within it.

Taipan was unfazed, sitting down and rolling her die, “Bad luck today it seems,”

The wall burst. Tempestas crashed out of it, roaring like it were a wild animal trying to scare its foes.

Bits of black tapped and thumped against the ground. Many of the fragments would’ve crashed into Taipan if she didn’t slightly nudge her body out of the way. 

The little chunks of shattered black dissipated, no longer fed by the colours they latched onto.

Taipan rolled her die, “Glad your in good spirits,”

“You!” Tempestas exclaimed, grabbing her by the collar. “HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?”

“You don’t have to shout, I’m right in front of you,” Taipan advised, easily slipping free from its grip.

“Fuck you! Yelling is fun!” it growled.

She shrugged, “I guess this is karma for my talking comment a few tales ago,”

“Answer the bloody question!” it insisted, trying to make itself look bigger in front of the 219.456 cm tall woman.

“It doesn’t matter,” she responded, examining the wall like a whale carcass.

“I LOST EVERYTHING BECAUSE OF YOU!” it pointed its hammer at her.

“I did say that you should’ve done the attack tomorrow, or rather, today. I simply followed your…rambunctious spirit,” she waved away, rolling the die again. “My streak is really bad today. May as well be now instead of with someone important,”

“You told me to ‘kamikaze’ my-!”

“I advised you, Tempestas. I just presented an option, you made a choice. Where’s the personal accountability here?” she stated, repeating the first rule in the con artist handbook.

“Bullshit!”

“Very well,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Tempestas, how did this Corrupted Gate go along so well?”

“How should I-,”

Taipan approached it, hunching down to make herself smaller, “And why did I urge you to Kamikaze your men?”

“Because-,” it responded, eyes widening.

“And who recklessly threw you into the water?”

“That *runt*,” it exclaimed, feeling the end of its hammer, its eyes sharpening.

“Yes, this was the fault of Shadow Velvet Ursa and her recklessness. If she let herself die, none of this would’ve happened. She’s unable to accept her fate and only brings other people down in her desire to rise up,” she reasoned, slipping behind it.

“Yes, it's her fault, but how-!?” it exclaimed, raising its head and hammer. “But where-?”

“There was recently a large amount of movement among the Corrupted Beasts, just west from here. If you go that way, there’s a good chance she’ll be there,”

“Excellent, EXCELLENT! I WILL BEAT HER INTO NOTHING!” it roared, rushing off into the distance.

Taipan felt red eyes upon her, “Apologies, the die didn’t roll our way. Gather your Cluster and do it yourself. I have my own business to attend to. This gate is a massive investment after all,”

Chapter IX

Arcanum praeda {Reference to Arkane’s Prey}

Ursa charged through the halls. The caves rattled, eyes of many colours around her. She had to keep on the run or she feared the caves might enclose on and crush her.

There was a hole in the distance. Shadows attempted to cut off her escape! Dashing on all of her claws, she CHARGED forwards!

It was almost closed! Eyes sharpened, she SHOT through it.

The hole behind closed. She looked back at it, taking deep breaths, a smile forming on her face.

The part of the cavern she entered seemed much more quiet…except for the one thing. She heard a loud ROAR!

Tempestas was charging her.Her eyes widened.

TEMPESTAS SMASHED ITS HAMMER INTO HER! SHE BLOCKED WITH HER ARMS AND CLOTH!

Ursa was sent flying across the ground! She sank her claws within it, sparks flying from the yellow! Her eyes sharpened!

“YOU!” It exclaimed, pointing its hammer! “YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!”

“The only iron is the chains I’ll put you in if I don’t BASH YOUR FUCKING SKULL IN FIRST!” It threatened.

“You don’t need to shout, I’m right in front of you, (and there are Corrupted Beasts everywhere),” she sighed, rolling her eyes and readying her claws.

“I’LL TAKE CARE OF THEM ONCE I’M DONE WITH YOU!” it insisted.

“We need to work together if we don’t both wanna die in here ya know,” She stated, irritation in her voice as she encircled it, her claws ready.

“You do maybe, I’m a Disaster Beast, I’m incorruptible,” It argued, encircling her back, its hammer at the ready.

“Corrupted Beasts can still kill or feed off of you though. You’d be like an apple tree for them,” She stated, stopping and readying her charge.

“Whatever the fuck an apple tree is, I’d just bash it in,” It laughed, doing the same.

---

They were in a cavern that carried multiple tunnels and even pools of water. From one of those puddles, a creature with red eyes watched them carefully. It scratched its tail against the wall of the pool and narrowed its eyes.

It was fixated on the Tempestas, a yellow glow flowing off of its body.

---

Ursa and Tempestas charged each other. It swung its hammer down on her. Using green, she dodged and jabbed.

It pulled its hammer back in and blocked the jab with its hilt, only being pushed back instead of damaged. It hit her with its hammer, giving it a spin and emitting a powerful mist.

Ursa clawed down on the hammer, SLAMMING IT into the ground and SHATTERING any ice that formed upon her cloth. Her eyes were beastly, and her canine teeth laid bare.

Tempestas jumped back, unsummoning the hammer and readying its next-

Ursa grabbed it by its right arm and FLUNG it far away, shattering the arm like glass.

Tempestas shuffled back, across the ground nervously, its eyes kept on Ursa as she approached it. She stood tall and large. It dared not look her in the eyes, only looking at her flaming hair. Each footstep she took had the weight of an angry black bear.

“DO THINK YOU CAN KILL ME?!” it roared, barely holding its hammer. “IF YOU STRIKE ME DOWN, I’LL ONLY BE SENT TO THE CORRUPTED REALM, WHERE I’LL RISE UP AGAIN AND-!”

There was an even louder thumping in the distance. The pair froze.

Alongside the thumping was a loud, rapid tapping, like thousands of little legs rushing along the crystular ground. Ursa readied her claws, listening close and observing her surroundings.

The thumping became even louder. The pools were starting to shake. It was getting closer.

Would it pass them by, or was the hunt coming their way? For them it was up in the air, but for you, my listeners, this is a given.

A nearby crack in the walls lit up, and began to spread.

Ursa grabbed Tempestas by the arm and ran, “BLUE MOULD!”

“WHAT?!” it responded in complete bafflement.

Her eyes darted about the cavern, checking each tunnel. None of them looked dangerous, but where would they go?

She tried feeling her white fragment to absorb information about the area, but her heart was pounding too loud to get anything. She couldn’t return to the Reflect Realm either, nor see what the Reflect Realm was like.

The walls spread open like a spider's egg unhatched. Ursa took a higher path to the right.

Tiny, crystular spiders with blue marks on their bodies came pouring out of the opening. Ursa extended her cloth to get up.

The strand was severed.

Leaping out of the pools was a thin, agile Corrupted Beast that stood at 134.62 cm. Its body was jagged and uneven. It had three nails on its column-like feet, and four nails on its lizard-like claws. Its thin tail held a thick, red sword. Its head was long and sharp with three pointed spikes on its head. It had large, thin cracks on its face that resembled eyes. {Design heavily inspired by Hollow Knight}.

Ursa clawed at the Red Eyes. It LEAPT out of the way, climbing up the walls before signaling its cluster by scratching said walls with its tail.

The loud thump was upon them.

Out from the opened walls crawled a MASSIVE Corrupted Beast. It resembled a giant Funnel Web Spider, with blue cracks all along its body.

If you looked close, you could see parts of its body crawling off, becoming tiny spiders. 

“GET OFF ME!” Tempestas ordered as spiders began crawling up his legs.

[If left unchecked, the Blue Mould would crawl all over its body. They would then fuse together, restricting and entrapping it, and feeding off of it for perhaps an eternity].

Ursa hit Tempestas with a gust of wind, sending the spiders flying. There was damage done to their blue marks, leading to them breaking apart into nothing.

She grabbed and pulled Tempestas with a strand of cloth, pulling it closer to her before rushing down the nearest tunnel on the ground. The Spiders drew closer, but they could get ahead of them.

“WHAT ARE YOU DO-?!” Tempestas roared.

She looked at it with narrowed eyes. It nodded and went silent.

They escaped into the tunnel, but they could feel eyes watching them on all sides. Insects in the cracks, bats in the air, even the tunnel itself moved like it were the inside of a massive crystular serpent!

---

The Red Eyes watched the tunnel carefully. It injected its tail into the colour flow slipping through the walls. Its eyes saw exactly where Ursa and Tempestas were, as well as where they were going. There was a massive, open space in their direction.

It scratched upwards with its tail. All of the spiders ceased movement. It scratched in the shape of a circle before X-ing it out.

The spiders all gathered around the tunnel’s entrance. The miniature ones built themselves up, climbing on top of each other until there was no entrance: only a wall.

It scratched the wall again and leapt on top of the giant Funnel Web Spider. The pair walked down the path before them as the spider  cleared the path for them.

---

“GET YOUR HAND OFF OF ME!” Tempestas exclaimed, trying to pull free from Ursa’s grasp.

It looked back, “Why did the Blue Mould close the path…you’ve taken us into a trap, you stupid runt!”

“Arguing will not get us anywhere,” Ursa stated, walking the other way, pulling it along like a toddler.

“Where in Nigrum Cavea do you think we’re going!?” it asked.

“The Red Eyes has every advantage here, if you want to be rid of me, follow me first,” she advised like an annoyed Mother.

“Well….,” Tempestas groaned. “FINNNE!”

Tempestas stopped resisting her, though the strand of cloth tied to its arm seemed unnecessary(to it), “We wouldn’t have to deal with this if you had surrendered you know,”

She glared at it, “I’m banned from the north,”

“No, the Orphans and Under Umbrella simply want you dead,”

“And where do they often hide?” she snapped.

It rolled its eyes, “perhaps you shouldn’t have angered them?”

Ursa stopped.

“What do you think your-?”

She pointed her finger right at its chest, “I didn’t anger them, maybe Mother favoured me over Tetora, but she hates me for more than that. The Orphans and Under Umbrella don’t *hate* me. They hate *her*,”

“You may as well be the same-,” It shrugged, hiding its feelings of intimidation.

Ursa stared right into its eyes, “If we were the same, this *fucking* cavern, you, and your warriors would’ve been wiped out,”

She walked past it, stretching the strand of cloth a bit, and continuing onwards.

“My warriors were wiped out,”

She stopped, “....my condolences. That’s a terrible thing to happen, especially when its your choices that led to it,”

It growled, “My choices?! Your choices are the ones that have left the North the way it is! I’m just trying to rebuild your mess!”

She sighed and shook her head, “If you want to lead again, you’ll need to admit your mist-, no admit that your choices, right or wrong, have had consequences. A good leader takes their tragedies and choices, and carries them on their back. A bad leader is the opposit,”

She glanced at it with sympathetic eyes, “Do you want to be a bad leader,”

“I…,” it responded, not looking her in the eyes, taking a moment to actually think. “I have nothing to say to you, runt,”

“It doesn’t matter,” She responded, shaking her head and looking away.

They continued onwards in silence. In the distance, at the end of the tunnel, there was a great yellow light. They both looked at the tunnel and each other with scepticism. They couldn’t be out of the Gate so soon after all.

They reached the end of the tunnel.

Before them was a HUMONGOUS PIT filled to the brim with plasma formed from yellow, green, and orange! A burst of it came up and back down like it were the surface of the sun.

“Oh no,” they both exclaimed.

To Be Continued………