It was painful. Excruciating. But the whiteness that blanketed the forest and stretched upwards and around the whole forest seemed to be working, as far as incapacitating Corvus, leaving it writhing in agony. The others weren't faring much better, eyes shielded as much as possible and bodies crouched and crooning in a desperate attempt for darkness, but it was only the natural human response to such brightness. They would be okay.
I hoped, at least.
The brightness began to subside, vision blurred as retinas felt on fire, but the pain didn't matter. Something had changed in me, and now I walked over to the squirming body of my once father with a determination, a coldness. A certainty. "Fuck you," I told it, firmly. Then, keeping my eyes planted firmly on their body, I jogged backwards to where Aubrey, Mike and Juno were crouched, nudging Juno gently. "Hey, you- uh- conscious?"
They groaned. "That was awful. Don't do that again." Their gaze softened as they looked up to me. "I'm glad you're okay. How- how did you escape?"
I shrugged. "Light counteracts darkness, right?"
Juno stared at me. "Tobi. You can't use runes in there."
"Um." I looked down at my palm, the faint glow of the rune still half-present. "Yeah. Guess I'm special or something."
They sighed. "I'm glad you're okay." A brief pause. Consideration, or maybe preparation for what was to come. "Let's end this, shall we?"
I held out my hand for them to grab onto as I helped them upright. "I'm not ready. But we need to do this"
Aubrey, who I hadn't even realised had gotten up, now stood next to me, hand in mine. Mike hovered behind and gave a big thumbs up and a smile, and I felt that familiar warmness spread throughout my body. Maybe we had a chance to do this.
Corvus was beginning to stir from their pain, faint moans and croaks coming from its barely human voicebox as it started to hobble upright.
"We need to act quickly," I shouted over to the others as I began to circle it, preparing for the familiar nature rune to be etched onto my skin. "Once we kill this thing, does it just cease to exist or something? You were so intent on being secretive about me having to kill my own dad I didn't even ask."
"We're going to need to trap it again, but- but we need something more powerful than us to help. Only higher beings can keep it restrained, and, luckily for us, we're fresh out of constellations readily available." Juno sighed, shaking their head.
"Wait- wait there was a woman. I think."
Juno Mike and Aubrey turned towards me, confused. "Um. What?" Aubrey asked, less of a question and more of a statement.
"It's- it's really hazy. When I was in that place, I saw some things. I think? Like- like a story about something. I think I understood it at the time, but now I'm back here it's all distant. Foggy. I think it was about Corvus?"
"And there was a woman? Are you talking about Giena?" Juno asked, curiosity beginning to enter their voice.
"No. Well yes, she was there too. Or I think it was her? Names didn't really work there. But no, there was another woman. Older. I think she knew Giena? And Corvus too."
"And you think she could help?"
I paused. "Yes. I mean, I think so. I don't know."
Juno walked over to me, and touched my shoulders gently. "Tobi, I know you said names didn't work, but you knew somehow that the woman was Giena and you knew that the man was Corvus. Can you try to think of who she could be?"
A slight headache hit my temple as I thought back to that place, but it was just as distant and guarded as I remembered, almost as though I wasn't supposed to be remembering, wasn't supposed to be knowing. Her name was - what was it?
"Oro. I think- I think it was Oro. Does that ring a bell? Do you know any stories about-"
I looked up to see Juno's face ashen, eyes wide with shock - and was that panic?
They took a step back. "Oro," they repeated, very slowly. "Oro. My grandmother. Oro Golde."
"Woah- wait a sec. What?"
They looked just as perplexed as I was, but before either of us could process a large howl echoed around us, rustling the leaves and piercing throughout the whole forest. "Shit. We need to come up with a plan, now," they called out, taking a few steps back before breaking into a jog to regroup with the others. "Tobi, if you go get Gran, maybe she can help us."
"I-" I faltered. "Can- can I stay this time? I don't really want to be on my own again. Not with all of this happening."
Their eyes softened. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry. I'll go. You, Aubrey and Mike stay here and keep Corvus at bay - I'll be as quick as I can."
I smiled gently. "Thank you."
They turned back to us. "Be safe."
And with that, they ran into the forest.
☆
Keeping Corvus at bay was hard, although it's not like we were expecting anything less. It had almost fully regained consciousness and began to swivel wildly around, trying to focus their burnt eyes on something that wasn't black fuzz. I wasn't sure whether or not the blindness was permanent, but I wasn't going to risk it. Tracing along my palm the outline of the plant rune, my dirt covered hand produced thick vines that grabbed them by the leg and pulled them down. It was just strong enough to keep them stationary, and although it would quickly run out we hoped taking it in turns would at least give enough of a buffer to keep them down for a small while. The walk from Juno's to here wasn't long, but every second counted when up against a primordial eldritch being of stars. Which - saying out loud - was kinda cool. Aside from the whole dad-killing thing, plus all of the pain it had caused. Obviously.
I knew I needed to focus on the runes - I could already feel the grip weakening slightly, and cursed myself for being so weak. Juno could've held it longer. But the more I tried to pay attention the more my mind wandered to my dad. I had been putting off thinking about it. Of course I had. Why would I ever want to confront the actions that were about to take place? But I couldn't stop picturing the way he had held me when Mom died, the way we worked through our grief together. I hated him, didn't I? But I didn't want him gone either. Who would I live with? The only family I knew lived an hour and a half long drive away, and this was my home.
I blinked tears back and shook my head. I had a job to do.
It took just under a minute for the vine restraints to slacken and dissipate - a new record for me, though I didn't much feel like celebrating. Immediately Aubrey took my place, hitting it with a wave of vines so vicious I felt my own skin prickle at the thought.
Juno needed to hurry up.
The waiting was excruciating. The moans coming from Corvus' entangled prison left chills down my spine, and after each turn of our runes, the intensity dwindled. It was close to 8 minutes now and they were getting barely strong enough to hold it down, weaker and smaller every time. My head was pounding too, and my palms were sweating and itchy. I didn't have time to think about the potential consequences - keeping our captive at bay was the most integral thing. But we all knew this couldn't last forever.
It was about the 11 minute mark when my hands started burning up. They weren't on fire exactly, but inside was a hot, heavy itching that tingled with every movement of the fingers, and the headache was getting unbearable. I noticed Aubrey and Mike both scratching at their hands, and caught a glimpse of the similar tremors I had been experiencing. We couldn't keep going with this. Juno needed to hurry up.
At 13 minutes Aubrey collapsed, and Corvus was loose. Neither me nor Mike had the capacity to take over, and so, our agonising wait was brought to a halt by the promise of imminent death. Well - presumed imminent. Knowing Corvus they'd probably draw it out in some sick game, but neither of us could think straight enough anymore to even feel fear. My hands were too painful, the pain too sharp, the sharpness dulling every other sense. It hurt, knowing that me and my friends were going to die here and neither one of us was able to properly feel the grief and fear that we should. Or it would've hurt if I could think properly at all. At that point, all we could do was sit on the ground and wait. I thought about what Juno had said before they left, and laughed slightly to myself. Somehow, after everything I had been through in the past few weeks, this seemed like the most pathetic way to die. It made sense I supposed - a failure from the beginning, a failure to the end. Dying from my own inadequacies. And I sat, we sat, as the blurred figure drew nearer.
