Multiversal Tournament

Fear's Forest

Esgol's time was running short and his two battles with the powerful foes had only shortened it. He decided to let himself separate and he turned back into the two brothers. They were amazed at the power that Esgol was capable of using. Sure, they had fused into him once before, but they had been so confused and slightly afraid during that time that they had never noticed all the power coursing through their bodies. Here, though? This entire arena was filled with nothing but pure absolute chaos and power. The energy they had felt as Esgol was unlike anything they had felt in their universes before. He was leagues above both Jehovah and Amethyst, but Kaira wasn't too far away from Esgol's power level. The Prime Universe, as the Assistants had been calling it was truly capable of producing powerful warriors.

"So... what now?" Adar asked as he leaned against a boulder "We're completely drained of energy and still in the midst of a gigantic battle royale."

"Yeah, yeah. I know, so let's go to the forest again. When Kaira was there he seemed to be there to get his own strength back."

"True, but maybe because there was action there a little while ago, a lot of people might be there."

Barak looked over the distance and watched the forest for a few seconds. They didn't see any movement other than that of the constant gusts of wind blowing through the arena. It was completely chaotic every except for the woods. The two nodded to one another and carefully walked through the battle field to get to the forest. They hid behind a pillar while Cathy and Ashley fought, then they rolled behind a broken wall fragment to avoid getting involved with a fight between Noah and Zachary. They looked out and saw that the fight had been moved away from them, so they crept to the woods again. Once they had managed to get into the deep woods, the two brothers' bodies relaxed.

They walked through the forest and looked up at the trees and for the first time noticed how strange they were. The wood was a pale gray and the bark didn't exactly feel like normal tree bark when Adar put his hand on it. It felt as though he was pressing his palm against someone's forehead. It was slightly unnerving, but what really freaked Barak out were the roots. Their appearance was that of melted humans, the heads turned up toward the branches as if begging to be let go from the trees' embrace. They were absolutely immovable, but Adar almost wanted to try to help them. The roots had strange growths that looked disturbingly similar to a malnourished arm. As they continued to stare at the trees, they almost looked like they were slowly reaching toward them. Any step they took caused the sound to seem like people moaning and begging for help while in agonizing, eternal suffering. The two both knew that the trees weren't actually moving, but something about this entire place felt off. They stood back to back and Adar lit a fireball in his hand in case anything did come to get them. A thick fog began to build up at their feet, slowly rising until it reached up to their ankles. Barak looked down and was shocked that they hadn't noticed the fog until now. The more he thought about this place, the worse it seemed to become. The echoing of battles and screaming in the distant started to distort into begs to be saved from suffering.

"Barak... the hell is this place?" Adar asked as he threw a fireball down into the fog... but all it did was consume the fire, leaving them stuck in darkness.

"I dunno, but it's like it gets worse the second you get scared," Barak replied, raising up a guard "Oh shit. Look!"

Adar looked down and saw that the light all around them seemed to be sucked away by the fog, leaving them completely trapped. The two pressed their backs to each other and tried to use their powers, but nothing happened. The trees began to appear closer, the world got darker, darker, yet dark until there was absolutely nothing to be seen. Barak suddenly noticed... he couldn't Adar! He looked around for his brother, but of course, all he saw were those horrific trees. All sound now was muffled and he tried to call out to his brother, but nothing came out. All he could do was breathe, but his voice had completely vanished. He just began to wander around, trying to find Adar while he couldn't see anything. He suddenly tripped over a root and fell against one of the body like growths coming out of the roots. He looked up and saw another of the faceless screaming heads staring down at him. He tried to yell, but he couldn't, his voice still completely gone. He fell off of the root and... then remembered what he thought he had realized about this place. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, then another one out as he stood back up. He planted his feet on the ground at shoulder width and held his fists out a few inches from his hips. He simply stood, ignoring everything he couldn't sense around him... and then he realized that he couldn't sense anything going on. There was absolutely nothing in that forest except what was going on in his head.

"Barak!" A muffled voice yelled "Barak! Wake the hell up!" He opened his eyes and turned to see Adar in front of him "Dude, what the hell was that!?"

"I think this place just took what was in our heads and spat it back out."

"Huh, well maybe now that we know how to block it out, we can actually use this to our advantage," Adar suggested.

"Uh... nah," Barack told him "We have a rule, remember? We're not gonna lower ourselves down to some dirty tricks."

"Yeah, I know," Adar replied with a sigh "I just... I'm scared, man. If we have to deal with anyone stronger than Emerald? I think we may be screwed. I mean, we couldn't even beat that Amethyst chick without having to turn into Esgol."

"That fusion is not a crutch," Someone told them.

They turned around and saw Ruby standing there and Barak groaned "Oh, it's just this-"

"Choose your next words carefully," She told him "I'm not as strong as Emmie, but I'm still stronger than either of you."

"Bitch- gah!" She punched Barak into a tree.

"Now, for the reason I came to find you." She looked at Adar "Emerald's completely lost his mind. His power usually would've simmered out by now, but here? This place is filled with nothing but pure chaotic energy. That's all his power feeds off of, which means if he isn't stopped soon, we all may just end up dying here."

"And you didn't tell us this earlier because...?"

"I figured he would've calmed down by the time I see him again," She explained "But apparently this gigantic war, that stupid reptile is having us partake in, is causing his power to run out of all control."

"And... how bad would it be if he went fully out of control?"

"We will all die here... his power is unlike anything you may have ever seen."

"So, what? How do we take him out before... ow... before he Completely loses his shit?" Barak asked as he walked into the conversation.

"I've only ever read about Emerald Guardian power running out of control like this. Apparently, at this point in the game, he's borderline invincible, but if we let him go to the next stage, then he'll have a weak point."

"So... we need to let him get... more powerful?" Adar asked, absolutely terrified by the idea of Emerald becoming even more monstrous of a threat.

"I apologize, but yes," She told them "Trust me, he's the person I care about the most, and he's scaring me. However, like this, he's completely invincible... so what we really need is for him to be pushed to the next, and last, stage of his power."

"Alright, but how do we push him to that level? Adar and I tried to fight him when he transformed into... whatever the fuck that demon is, but we couldn't even hurt him. It was like he didn't even feel whatever we were hitting him with."

"Yes, the energy encasement form and the Ore form are completely invincible. His first form was the one that I had hoped he would stay in through his fight with you two, but now? He's gone absolutely insane, and... even though we are on different teams who are each trying to save our own universe, we must work together."

"Yeah, yeah... I get that, but I've been wondering, what would you two have wished for?" Barak asked curiously "You don't seem like a violent one and Emerald... no offense, doesn't seem to be... uh... all that intelligent- damn you!" She roundhouse kicked him into the same tree again.

"Emerald is not the stupid fool you've seen thus far in this tournament," She snarled at him, then she inhaled, exhaled, and calmed down again "Sure, he isn't the most intelligent being in any universe, but he actually has conscious thoughts. He has emotions and wants, needs, everything you two have in those heads... and a little bit of an insane dark side that... is incredibly destructive." She looked back at Barak as he walked back towards them "But, to answer your little question, I was going to wish for that dark side of his to be taken away from him, so he could just live without fear of losing his mind anymore. He never spoke of his wish, but I assume it would be largely the same." The three continued to talk to one another in the forest, none of them letting their unease show so that the forest's effects wouldn't have any effect on them.