Parallel Meetings

Things haven't been going so great lately, but that was about to change finally! ... How many times has Marul uttered that thought to himself now? This time, Marul actually had a genuine lead on something and he was going to take the opportunity before it ended up going cold. Admittedly, this was likely going to involve his favorite fucking thing in the world to deal with based on the intel he's acquired, but Marul apparently needed to start dealing with that if he wasn't going to just drop dead at this point... Or he could just avoid them if possible. He'll just have to see how it all turns out once he arrives...

It had been awhile since Marul wandered through this place. Something about it always gave him the creeps and he could never figure out why. It could actually be oddly peaceful, but there was always a weird... Feeling in the air. Granted, where in Hyrule DIDN'T he not trust the air itself? He pretty much always had to constantly watch his back and be aware of his surroundings lest it meant him potentially biting the dust... Anyways. Somewhere in these woods, there should be some hidden entrance? A tunnel lit by lanterns that should, in theory, lead to a real treasure trove... A big fucking mother load... And monsters.

Marul just kept trekking through the woods. Not only did it grow darker outside as time went on, he could swear the woods themselves grew denser and darker around him... He was pretty certain he was on the right track. "Might actually get some good food for once... Need to focus on myself for at least one meal this time, though I might have enough to spare actually..." Marul sneered at nobody but himself. Oh, he was truly a sorry sort for those needy types, wasn't he...?

... Damn, these woods were getting dark. Really dark... Well. If he finds this tunnel, he might find some kind of unnatural light source so time to just keep an eye out.

With each step he took, the darkness snuffed out more and more of the meager light of the moon. Thick heads of trees blocked out the stars in the sky and any possible way to notice if anything was flying above them, the sounds of life even muting the deeper he went. Crickets stopped chirping, the birds silenced from the occasional peep, and the small woodland critters hidden away in their burrows. It was almost as if the whole forest was empty, and if that wasn't a sign of dangerous territory then he wouldn't have survived as long as he had, the tips of his ears twitches even, as a weight settled in his belly.

Good thing he was made to be in the dark, a handsome shadow that was molded by it all his life! That pit in his stomach was equal parts anxiety and excitement, a thrill at being in a situation where he felt… at home yet also in danger.

Orange eye narrowed as they pierced through the dark, his vision unaltered by the darkness of this forest. What should have been nothing but blobs of solid black was instead trees of muted color, greys painted everything in varying shades, and the path his boots glided over guided him even now. The only thing that would be walking these trails would be predators on the prowl, strong and dangerous that everything was silenced in fear.

What could the predator that quieted the life in this place be?

Something natural…unnatural?

Or perhaps it's because of me, although I'm much more of a scavenger than a predator, Heh.

If he was the type he would have even smirked as those thoughts crossed his mind, but he wasn't, so his face was still schooled in a harsh scowl. Still, the threat of a dangerous predator was always real in a place like this, this treasure has been hidden for a long time after all, even after the rumors about it seemed to grace everything's lips at least once when he was holded up in the inn. There has to be a reason nobody has claimed it yet…and maybe why that man had hired him to do it in his stead.

Well, the life of a fucking Sellsword.

At the very least, nothing could hope to get the jump on him, his danger sense was keener than anyone he knew, anything that looked upon him with Ill intent can't do it without him knowing. Unknowingly, his path mirrored that of another, but would they cross soon was another matter.

Marul clenched a hand against his stomach. Ngh. It'll be fine... Whatever lead he finds, he'll take it. He's been through this a few times before when he got lucky. Granted, this area was pretty unnerving to him... Didn't help that he could still barely fucking see. There was no darkness to be had in what little magical power ran through his body. He only really has ground experience dealing with it too. No real education on the matter... Stupid ass rich girl acting all pompous over him... Didn't understand shit... Marul shook his head. Well. Bygones be bygones, right? Marul sneered at... Nothing. Because there was nothing around him. Fucking hell, this was getting disturbing. It was still way too quiet for a forest too... The ambiance was completely gone.

Marul just kept looking around. He was pretty sure he was on the right path, but how long did it take to actually get to the damn place again? He imagined it'd be pretty hard to miss once it starts to appear... There had to be something out there too. This was all drivin' him up a wall...! Marul reached for his side and pulled our his dagger. He held it forward and slowly turned around in a circle as he continued moving forward. His breaths gasped and were raspy... Yet he was met with the sound of silence. "... Grrrr." Marul growled and shook his head. He's just getting paranoid now. Just keep walkin'. It's been a pretty straight line so far...

There, a sharp snap in the distance, a huff of breath that was not his own.

Mabuz froze, boot suspended just above the dirt as his ears twitched, trying to locate where exactly that sound came from. Looking around revealed nothing to his eye, only grey trees and bushes that all blended together no matter where his eye moved.

Slowly, his hand rested on the grip of his glaive, holding it loosely as he prepared to react to whatever had his senses going haywire. It could be anything sure, but whatever it was was no loud, bumbling bokoblin. He listened, for the slightest little sound that could reveal the oddities' location, until another soft crunch was finally heard!

To the right, slowly inching closer from the cover of darkness and shrubbery! While he still couldn't place what it was, he knew where the creature was roughly located now, which means that he can anticipate when it would pounce. So for now, he settled on walking slowly forward, eye staring directly ahead as he kept his ears on the stalker following his movements. Don't tip off the creature that he knew it was there, let it think that it had the element of surprise to take him out.

Only a few moments passed before his sense spiked in the back of his head, a flash of grey and a barely audible snarl as a large body sprung from the trees, claws extended. Dust burst into the air when the massive body slammed into the ground, the sound disturbing the empty ambience of the forest. As the dust fell back to the ground, it revealed a feline-like creature crouched on the ground, similar to a mountain lion maybe, but the creature was the only thing there, the man not within its jaws.

Where he had gone was answered with a sickening crunch, the point of his glaive spearing into the back of the beast as Mabuz came down on it from the air. Another loud boom, from the falling beast and the force of his dive, another sound breaking the silence for anything nearby to hear. The snarling of the beast added into the growing wracket, yowling into the air as it thrashed on the ground despite the heavy blow that should have rendered it immobile.

"Fucking, how is this thing still moving?"

Sharp words gritted out as he struggled to keep the cat from getting to its paws, but soon he was balancing awkwardly on its back as rose against his strength, still ran through its back by his glaive. Mabuz swore and wrenched his weapon out, jumping off and away from the injured beast as he slowly turned to face him, thick bubbling foam seeping from its mouth.

Okay, definitely not normal.

Meanwhile, the one on the other path would find his wary search met with nothing, as he already figured. But as he continued along the path he may catch the sounds of a creature wailing much closer than he might have liked. The sounds of muted thumps inching louder the more he attempted to navigate the path in darkness.

Well, SOMETHING certainly caught Marul's attention as he attempted to keep going. Something faint, but the noises began to grow louder and closer than he would like... Now this was why one never rests on their laurels. Nothing had come out for him yet, but the complete silence was gone now. On top of that, he could swear he was starting to hear some other shit in the air a further distance away... Well. If Marul starts running, that might be the sign for some strange cretins to pounce onto him. He just had to keep moving carefully for now and hope for the best... His grip on his dagger tightened again as he prepared for the worst to occur.

His steps were careful, quiet. He slowly would move in a circle to get something of an idea of his surroundings... The best he could when he was surrounded almost entirely by darkness. His hearing was especially useful right now because of that. He still was a little confused by what that other sound he was hearing was... It almost sounded like... A fight? It was a lot farther away than these other noises, though... Even if he wanted to investigate what that noise was, he found himself a little stuck for now. "... Just come on out already..." Marul muttered to himself. He'll kill the damn things if he had to. Even without brute strength backing him up, a good hit was all he needed...

In the darkness that coated the forest in an unpenetrated black, a sharp sound of leaves and branches being rustled would come vaguely from Marul's right. The wailing stopped abruptly, although the sounds of fighting from further off had not, so it was in fact something separated from the whole. Whatever was nearby clearly did not care to be stealthy, the low bubbly growl that cut through the air as the rustling grew more violent. On the plus side, it would provide ample time for the young man to decide what to do before a dark shape practically stumbled out of the bushes with crazed, uneven steps.

The creature was wolf-like, but only slightly larger than your average wolf, but when its glowing eyes looked around frantically, it rose into a hunched stance with its front legs (arms?) off the ground. It was without a doubt a wolfos, with a bubbly foam dripping out its open jaws as he searched around, somehow not seeing Marul. Something was off, but how that would be handled is on him.

In the meantime, Mabuz flipped back on his feet, hair wild as he dodged the mad swipes of the strange beast. There was no rhyme or rhythm to these attacks, like it was just flailing around instead of throwing coordinate strikes at him. It made it frustratingly hard to predict what it was going to do, and he really can not take many hits right now! He grunted loudly when he was nearly backed into a tree after landing, instead jumping up to place his feet against the bark and launching into the air. He whipped into a spin as he flew over, the blade of his glaive ripping a bloody line down the back of the creature.

Air whipped around him as he landed, glaring as it turned to face him again, damn thing hasn't bleed out yet? It yowled as it dug it's claws into the ground, eyes crazed and it threw its giant body at him, Mabuz jumped to the side ready to attack as it passed. Yet, instead of coming right at him it just continued barreling into the forest, bushes crushed under its paws and trees slammed against as he passed.

He watched for a moment, confusion glimmering in his eye, before it widened. "Fuck!" He can't let it just run away! After it!

Marul glanced around. That creepy wailing sound stopped for the moment so he got a clearer idea of what that other sound was that he was hearing... It sounded like a fight? Was there actually someone else all the way out in this fucking hellhole!? Marul quickly went to hide behind one of the trees before something had finally stumbled out from within the thicket. It looked like some kind of wolf, but its eyes were glowing... And then it also stood up. Oh. What were these damn things called again? A 'Wolfos' if Marul recalled? The way it shambled around and drooled was especially unnerving. Oddly, though, it didn't even seem to notice that Marul was just there a moment ago. It almost seemed to be looking for something...? That something most certainly not being him.

"..." Maybe Marul should just leave it alone? Granted, those strange noises a moment ago and then those OTHER noises he was hearing from farther away... Someone was fighting something. Something big given all the continuing noise in the distance. Maybe this Wolfie had a run-in with it as well? Who the fuck knows. Marul slowly undid the straps of its sheath and slipped his dagger out. The weapon definitely had seen better days, but it was apparent Marul knew how to keep it shiny and sharp at least... The sounds of fighting in the distance had stopped, but now... Something was rumbling and the faint sounds of crushed sticks and leaves were growing louder... He could feel it in the slight changes in the air and the change in the sounds he overheard... Also, he could swear he heard a voice...

"... Ah shit, don't tell me...?" Was that bigger creature he assumed was around here coming towards where he was at?! If the Wolfos had fought against it, maybe he could get it to distract it? Or serve as the most unlikely of allies? Think, think, think...! What would his mom do? ... He knew exactly what his mom would do and it wouldn't work for him. Marul used what strength he could muster to climb up the tree and onto the lowest branch possible that wouldn't break under his weight. Marul tried to keep his already heavier breaths quiet as he then decided to wait and see what came next... His grip on his dagger tightened like a vice. He couldn't lose it no matter what...

Trees and plants were bashed alike as the giant beast slammed into them during its mad run, Mabuz running through its trail of destruction with long strides as he fought to keep the beast within his sights. Discretion completely thrown out the window, he couldn't slip back into the shadows in gear of losing his target, especially when it's almost down for the count!

He didn't know that in a moment, they were about to converge on a path with another.

The beast went careening into another slight open path, startling the feral Wolfos as it crashed near it. The rabid monster would normally never attack anything the size of the feline-like beast, especially alone, but it has more than a few screws loose right now and howled. It lunged at the cat to dig its fangs into its blood matted fur, but received nothing but a hard swat from its large paw, sending the wolf flying into the tree Marul just climbed, shaking it.

Then it got back up, completely undeterred by the hard hit and charged again! The beast snarled, but that snarl turned into a pained yelp when the blade of its forgotten attack sunk deep into its left leg, piercing the muscles of its thigh. The Sheikah ripped his glaive out when it tried to fall on him, jumping back with a grimace.

One nearly felled beast, and one tiny batshit Wolfos that tried to dig into its side, how…fun. He crouched when the wolf's body was sent flying over his head from another swipe and readied his weapon.

... Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT...!

Marul had gotten to watch a bit of the chaos unfold as the larger creature Marul had been overhearing suddenly revealed itself and began to attack the sick Wolfos. A creature that looked kinda like some sort of monster, demon cat creature... These beasts truly were sickening. The fact that the Wolfos thought it had a chance certainly made its weird behavior more apparent... Then it swiped the wolf away like a flea into the tree and Marul found himself losing his balance on the branch he stood on. "Ack!" Marul stumbled back and grabbed onto the branch before falling down onto the ground. "Fuckfuckfuckfuck...!" He managed to stick the landing at least. He instinctively reached for his dagger and pulled it out of its sheath. That's when he actually noticed that there was indeed another... Actual person. One touched by the desert with an odd head of white hair like Marul had... Though something told Marul that there was something different about the origins of this behemoth he was gazing upon now... Was Marul sure he wasn't also a monster?

Jokes aside, Marul probably needed to do something... He had to be careful not to exert himself too much right now, though. Marul retreated back into the darkness and went to trot somewhere behind the feline-esque monster... He then moved and jumped into the air to try and grab onto it so he could slash at it right across its throat. The touch of Farore unknowingly giving him a bit of a boost in that regard so he'd actually reach where he aimed for...

The dirt kicked up clouds as the beasts giant claws rended through the ground in an attempted to hit the agile sheikah, who danced through the attacks as he searched for an opening to strike at. It was slowing down considerably, so it shouldn't be much longer until it was dead. Just as he launched from the ground to land on the surface of the tree behind him, he noticed the figure on the ground near were that Wolfos was flung, but this one was a person.

They slipped away before Mabuz could put more thought into it, but that would explain the feral Wolfos at least. He flipped from the tree as the feline slammed against it head first, it's large body stumbling backwards as it tried to recover. At the same time that he nearly touched the ground, a blur shot out of its hiding place and latched into the back of the beast! It was the person from before, he could perceive that much before he activated the blaster on the butt of his glaive, launching him back into the air without ever touching the ground.

The beast gave out a bloody wet screech as it tried to stumble away from the source of pain, but with it's throat sliced open and leaking all over the ground, it's was finally at it's wits end. Using whatever of that stange stamina that allowed it to live this long with it's injuries, it tried to throw it's body on to the ground and crush whatever was on it. Before it could finish that, the long glaive imbedded itself firmly into its skull, finally killing the creaturw for good.

Mabuz fell with it, staying firmly balanced on it's bloodied fur when he wretched his weapon out. He stared at his blade for only a moment, then turned his head to look at the person, the man who was here as well. The first thing he saw was dark skin, then the white hair that looked so similar, but also not. He…didn't really know what to say to him, but…

"...Are you… well?" It came out so soft, barely hearable in the calming night air.

Marul had been holding on for dear life, but it looked like his attempted attack actually worked. The other guy then jumped in and stabbed it through the skull, which seemed to finally end the damn thing as it thrashed around a bit more before finally falling to the ground, the life snuffed out of it. Marul's eyes had tightly closed as he gripped the creature on its way down, thankfully it fell forward and not onto its back despite it apparently trying to based on its movements. Marul slowly rolled off of it and got back onto his feet, his breathing heavy and ragged. Ugh. That was a fucking doozy... Rough as hell landing too.

Marul glanced around and then towards the giant when a voice barely echoed out into the now quiet air. "... Tch." Marul turned away. "I'm fine." Marul slowly slipped his dagger back into its sheath. Was he fine? Well. He didn't seem to be all that injured at least. "... And you?" His lips tightened after that question. It was just a little courtesy...

Mabuz stared at the other man awkwardly, words failing to form on his lips as he straightened up. Talking wasn’t his thing, especially to strangers, he wasn’t really *expecting* to see another person here. It was pitch black and in the middle of the forest, a dangerous place to be with all the monsters and predators lurking about and little ways to escape. Finally, he sighed softly,

”Yes…I am.. well.” Inwardly he cringed at the poor delivery, he hadn’t used his voice in so long since he’s been taking missions, the only one’s he’d usually talk to were safely hidden away while their father was gone.

Okay, calm down, focus on your task.

Mabuz looked at the corpse of the strange feline, that thing had taken multiple killing blows before dying, hell his first attack *should* have killed it then and there. That was fucking odd, and not a good sign about the forest. He took a step towards the fallen body so he could get a better ‘look’ at the strange ooze he saw briefly, his weapon still primed to attack at the slightest twitch it gave, until movement caught the corner of his eye.

There! The crazed Wolfos that had been attacking the beast when he got here! The feral beast had charged out from where it had been flung, a loud snarl ripping through the air as it tried to attach whichever man was closest to it. Before any ‘attacking’ could be done however, if found itself promptly sliced in two by the glaive of a still twitchy and highly paranoid Sheikah. He stared at the new corpse as it thumped onto the ground, his sight catching a similar sheen of ooze on its open…everything.

”Why are you here?” It came out suddenly before he could think about how blunt it was.

Marul had just been dusting himself off, making sure everything was in order, when he was initially just met with the sound of silence. Whoever this huge guy was, he really didn't like talking it looked like. Well. Marul wasn't always big on it either so whatever. Ain't the end of the world if he was slow. "Kinda figured." Marul looked around. Was he in too deep or was this actually a boon...

As Marul pondered over what his next course of action would be, he suddenly heard the sound of the crazed Wolfos again and the barely visible sight of it being cleaved by the huge guy's weapon. Some sort of spear-like thing... Regardless. The Wolfos was dead now. For real hopefully. The dude then actually asked Marul what he was doing here. "Whatcha think? I'm looking for loot. Bring in the rupees, get some goods, you know the works. Heard of a place all the way out here in bumfuck nowhere that might have something interesting... So here I am. You here for the same reason or something?" And he nearly died. He still wanted to actually explore the place they both presumably were heading towards.