---==GUARDIA FIELDS==---

The threat of corruption has set off the Soul gem alarms of all contracted within a decent radius, centralizing on this location and radiating outward. Oddly, and unlike most situations around Truce, Kyuubey is nowhere to be seen, but perhaps he is merely occupied elsewhere. However, someone else IS already here, but seems to be less than enthusiastic to make a move.

First to arrive on the scene, Johnathan is seen with the hood of his cloak down, early afternoon as the time, his black hair parted in the middle and evenly-lengthed on either side of his head. He looks torn as he watches the swirling black gate in front of him, one hand holding a mostly-obscured Soul Gem in his right hand, but he doesn't seem to be transformed yet. His steely blue eyes are uncertain of something; hat could he be waiting for?

Tyrranis approaches the gate-site from the north, giving Johnathan a look before turning his eyes on the source of his gem's worry. "What is the situation here?" He doesn't bother with niceities. They were here for a reason, to do their job.

Johnathan looks up suddenly, momentarily having been lost in his thoughts. "Oh! It's you. I'm very thankful to see that you're as up on the agenda as I'd hoped. In my case, I have somewhat of a.. dilemma." He turns back to the portal. "This thing opened up not too long ago, and normally I wouldn't hesitate, but Miriam has fallen ill. One can never predict the outcome of these battles, and if something should happen to me, I dread the thought of her being left alone, especially in this state." He pauses, looking up again. Wasn't there a woman with you, last time we exchanged words?

Tyrranis looks around, and nods. "Yes. She should be here soon. Something probably kept her from arriving right away." He raises his own soul gem in one hand, invoking his magical form around himself. Once the light from it subsides, he looks to the man standing next to him. "Go. Handle your wife."

Crossroads was running as fast as she could go, already transformed, breathing heavily as her soul gem guided her towards the location of the threat. Tyrranis would have probably gotten there before her considering how much time she spent at the cafe making sure Lora would stay there where it was safe. The hylian hopefully would be too busy filling orders to notice her flashing gem right now. And while they would probably need all the help they could get, the vision Crossroads recived right before her own gem started flashing told her that Lora would certainly die if she joined them on this one. Looking up from the pulsing light in her hand, the young woman soon spotted Tyrranis, feeling a wave of relief that he hadn't gone in yet. And there was another man there too. The one they met not long ago. She was too short of breath though to greet either of them.

Johnathan doesn't seem overly humbled by the offer that Tyrranis had made him. Perhaps he had hoped that this would be the case, and given that it was, he willingly accepted it. "Thank you. Perhaps I will be able to return a favor at some point in the future. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavour." He turns without waiting for a response, offering a thankful, if brief, smile at Crossroads as well as he hurries off toward Truce, disappearing into the city limits.

Tyrranis nods to Crossroads as she arrives, and focuses back on the gate. "It is a fresh arrival. The man needed to care for his wife, who is apparentally sick. Are you ready to enter?"

"Yeah." Crossroads said, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. "I'm ready." She took a few more deep breaths then straightened up, brushing her hair back behind her ears, "Are you ready, Tyr?"

The portal crackles ominously, waiting for those who would risk its venture.

"I have been. Let us meet our new foe then." Tyrranis' grip tightens around his bat as he steps into the portal, more than ready to fight as soon as he hits ground on the other side of the gateway.

Crossroads nods, summoning her bow to her hand with a flicker of bending light. She hesitated a brief second after Tyrranis stepped through, trying to steady her nerves. The last witch they had fought had claimed Kyrks life. Hopefully she had prevented the same thing from happening again. She stepped through.

Nightmare Labyrinth - Abandoned Room
Piles of once-undisturbed dust are kicked up and cloud the room upon
entry to this lobby-esque room, covering a few tables, a counter, and
numerous chairs. A lone lightbulb hangs from a wooden ceiling high
overhead, casting an eerily-small amount of light around the area. A closed
door is set into what could be considered this place's entrance, and a few
windows line the walls. Against the opposite wall, a doorless frame leads
into a hallway.

A dark vortex opens against the eastern door, allowing entry into this shadowy, dusty room. It smells like... wood.

Tyrranis examines the room, raising an eyebrow at the rather... plainess of this room. He doesn't move out of his fighting stance of course, but he does give Crossroads a questioning glance.

Crossroads looks around the room taking a few steps forward and raising some of the dust into the air. It seemed as though there was nothing to fight here save for the fight to hold back a sneeze. Her face scrunched up a little. Once she was sure the tickling sensation in her nose had passed she looked up at Tyrranis, "Should I take a look ahead?" She asked in a low voice.

The hallway looks kind of dark ahead, and no discernible lighting can be seen from here. Still, the light from this room, as little as it is, spills out into it so that it wouldn't be completely black.

Tyrranis shakes his head. "The fight may be tough. We want to keep as much corruption free as we can before then." He gives the hallway a quick glance from the room, and motions to Crossroads to follow him. "Let us advance."

Crossroads takes one last quick glance around the room and follows with a shiver. She was used to seeing creepy things from witches labyrinths, but this place seemed to particularly send a shiver up her spine. Maybe it was how dark things were further beyond, or maybe it was the abandoned feeling of the place. In either case she wanted to stick close to Tyr.

Nightmare Labyrinth - Hallway
The lighting in this narrow corridor is even worse than the room
preceding it; in fact, the only illumination given to it is that which
cascades in from the adjoining rooms. The surfaces of both floor and wall
are rough, warped and split in many spots, emphasizing the timeline of
deterioration that this location has likely gone through by now. Two doors
on either sides of the hallway lead into separate rooms, though the passage
itself still leads further onward.

The floor creaks within this hallway as it is tread upon, but little else can be heard from here. It is a silent, dreary place.

Tyrranis strains his eyes in the semi-dark to read the plaques, and grunts as he does so. He holds a thumb to the east, indicating he would prefer to go to the Storage Closet first to Crossroads. It promised to be a smaller area, and thus quicker to clear.

A tremendous bolt of lightning is seen splitting the sky overhead, crackling down with furious intensity far to the west! The rumbling aftershock is heard as an audible, if distant rumble, but a cloud or two is literally parted as it comes down and just as quickly disappears. Odd, really, considering there's no storm clouds overhead; that, and it's STILL WINTER. Oi.

"Okay." Crossroads agreed in a low whisper, nodding to him even though it would be difficult to see. She decides to go first, slipping past him and reaching for the door handle.

Nightmare Labyrinth - Storage Closet
This room looks pretty much like the sign on the door said it would
be; a small, cramped spot for the allocation of the establishment's supplies
and sundries. There's not really a lot here at the moment, though; a few
boxes lie in pieces on the floor, and most of the shelves are empty and
devoid of any supplements. There is a very small cylinder-like object on a
lower shelf, however, barely larger than a thimble.

Crossroads slips inside and quickly scours the room for anything that immediately jumps out at her, looking for any clues that might help them out. The pulls a half fallen apart box from one of the shelves and peers inside, squinting as her eyes still adjust to the dark. She could only make out shapes within at first but she had no idea what they were. "See anything Tyr?"

Tyrranis examines the room as well, eyes settling on the thimble-esque object. After looking at a few other things to satisfy his sense of 'making sure he isn't going to be jumped', he taps it with his bat.

It falls onto its side, and rolls along the edge of the shelf... then over it and onto the floor, clattering for a few seconds before it rolls to a stop.

Startled by the sound, Crossroads turns quickly inhaling sharply, only barely catching herself before letting out a scream. The box she was looking at drops from her grasp and it too falls to the ground. She quickly realized that Tyrranis had probably just knocked something over and she let out a heavy sigh of relief. This place was making her far too jumpy. "What was that?"

Tyrranis stares at Crossroads blankly, raising his eyebrow again at the scream. "Some metal object." He points it out using his bat, before turning and watching the door, almost expecting a Witch to bum-rush them through it. "Check it out if you wish."

The little metal cylinder glints dully, but remains on the floor where it is. It's about the only real thing in this room besides the busted-up box.

Crossroads kneels down, hand searching for a moment before touching upon something small and cool. She picked it up and held it inspecting it the best she could. "This is... A thimble?" She puts her finger inside of it as if to test this theory. It seemed like the only explanation for what this thing was.

Suddenly, a tiny needle shoots out of the hole on top of the device, pricking Crossroads' finger with a shallow injury!

Tyrranis wasn't watching Crossroads when the needle pricks her, so he continues guarding the doorway, bat held ready to brain any Witch or Minion in sight until Crossroads is done with her examinations.

There is a sharp gasp, more in surprise than in pain as Crossroads immediately drops the thimble. A small curse escapes her lips and she holds her fingers up before her, seeing a tiny bead of blood at the tip of her finger, "Tyr," There is an edge of worry in her voice, "Something was in that thing. It just poked me."

The 'thimble' drops to the floor with another lightly clatter as it is dropped, and rolls around on the ground briefly before coming to rest.

Tyrranis turns around, frowning. He takes Crossroads' hand in his own and brings her finger up to his lips, sucking hard at the bloodspot. After having done so for a moment, he spits off to the side. "Breathe. Keep yourself calm. If you need to leave the gate, do so. I can clear the rest of this area while you get checked out."

Crossroads stares worriedly up at Tyrranis as he sucks at her finger. At the suggestion that followed she shook her head. "I'm fine, really. It just took me by surprise is all. Just a little drop of blood" She said, trying to assure him. The last thing she wanted to do was leave Tyrranis to fight this witch on his own. She remembered the condition he came home in the last time that happened.

Tyrranis frowns at Crossroads, but gives her back her hand regardless. "If you do feel anything odd at any point, you need to leave. As much help as you are on the battlefield, if you enter a fight in less than full condition, you will become a liability."

Crossroads nodded, even though she didn't like the idea of doing so she understood his thinking, "I promise I'll leave if that is the case." She agreed, rubbing her finger. It stung a little but that was about it.

Tyrranis stands, and then nods his head towards the door. "This room is clear for now. We should go check out the Workshop now." He moves towards the door, but waits for Crossroads, watching her cautiously for signs that she was, in fact, not feeling well.

Crossroads steps out into the dark hallway again and pauses at the workshops door, glancing back towards Tyrranis and waiting for him to tell her he was ready before turning the nob.

Nightmare Labyrinth - Hallway
The lighting in this narrow corridor is even worse than the room
preceding it; in fact, the only illumination given to it is that which
cascades in from the adjoining rooms. The surfaces of both floor and wall
are rough, warped and split in many spots, emphasizing the timeline of
deterioration that this location has likely gone through by now. Two doors
on either sides of the hallway lead into separate rooms, though the passage
itself still leads further onward.

Tyrranis leaves west.

Nightmare Labyrinth - Workshop
This long room is punctuated by an extensive, rectangular table that
more or less takes up the center of the room, seated with a few chairs at
nonspecific locations. No windows are fitted into the walls of this room,
and a pair of single-chain lightbulbs, one dangling from each end of the
ceiling, provide dim light over it all. Various wooden creations are
scattered around the table, and dozens of small tools and other crafting
objects are also strewn about, both on and off the table.

The room is a bit more eerie given it's size compared to the closet. While there doesn't seem to be anything visibly moving, there's an odd sort of presence felt in this room, but not physical in the least. Or at least, it kind of feels like there is. Could also just be paranoia.

Tyrranis examines the workshop, and frowns at the feeling of a presence. He grips his bat tightly, looking over the puppets on the table and looking back to Crossroads. "Be on your guard."

Without warning, two more explosive bolts of electrical energy surge out of the sky, splitting clouds apart as they race toward the ground far to the west; the ground literally rumbles to some subtle degree upon their individual impacts, accompanied with a louder echo of thunder to boot. Just as swiftly as they arrived, however, they are just as soon out of sight, but perhaps not out of mind.

Crossroads reaches back, pulling an arrow from her quiver and knocking it just to be ready. The room appeared to be empty though and she went over to one of the tables to continue investigating (being a little more weary of touching things). She looked over the strange array of toys and crafts that lay upon it collecting dust, though there didn't seem to be much of use to them here.

As Crossroads sideles around one side of the table, two of the dolls' heads swivel around to look at her, blankly and blatantly. They don't move otherwise, however, and don't blink either.

One doll on the end of the table nearest Tyrranis also swivels its head around to peer up at him, with empty and soulless eyes.

Tyrranis doesn't bother waiting for the dolls to do anything else. As they turn to look at him and Crossroads, his bat raises above his head and crashes down on each of them one good time, seeking to smash the wood effigies into pieces.

Crossroads lets out a startled scream as the dolls suddenly turn their heads towards both of them and there is barely a moment to react to them she see's Tyrranis's bat swing at them from the corner of her eye. She draws her bow, aims, and fires at one sitting nearby, then quickly reaches for another one panicked.

With the party in full swing, all manner of wooden toys and dolls come to life in the workshop, clank-clattering on wooden limbs and skittering around the room, leaping toward Tyrranis and Crossroads in an almost-delighted manner to have someone to play with! Wooden arms and legs fly through the air as they hurl themselves at the two Wishborn, looking to be more annoying than dangerous.

Also of possible note, Crossroads is looking a transparent; quite literally, in fact; her body appears to be in the beginning stages of fading out of sight, taking on a lighter skin tone and dulled edges of the skin and clothing.

Crossroads doesn't get the chance to fire another shot as there were too many coming at her and all too close. She swings her bow at them trying to knock them away. She doesnt even notice the strange effect that is taking over her.

Tyrranis is not without targets to attack, and does so with gusto. His bat flashes as the giganto puts his body to work, moving to cover Crossroads and slamming his weapon into as many of the puppets as he can.

No sounds come from the puppets and toys except for the crashing of splintered wood and pieces hitting the floor; just as the ones on the ground are gradually coming to terms with their own decimation, though, a new wave suddenly drop from the ceiling! Yes, thin ropes of twine suddenly drop in from overhead, bringing new wooden constructions in from the ceiling as they dive in toward Crossroads and Tyrranis, wanting a piece of the action!

Additionally, some of the toys on the floor that aren't completedly destroyed cling to the force that gives them life, dragging themselves across to floor and tugging on pantlegs, feet, shoes, robe hems, and whatever else they can get their wooden limbs around.

Crossroads is gradually continuing to fade out of sight, the tips of her fingers now more or less unseeable. The speed of her dispersal has picked up since it started, hastening her pace of invisibility by a large degree.

Crossroads was starting to realize that even though small and breakable, their numbers were producing a problem. Crossroads's bow got caught awkwardly for a moment in the ropes and twine from the ones that fell from the ceiling leaving her open for a brief moment.

The air around one of Tyrranis' hands loses color slowly, and several places on his body dent for a moment before filling back in. After a second longer, another baseball bat fills Tyrranis' off-hand. This one metal and dented in several places. Now both of his arms are pressed into action, Tyrranis seeking to turn himself into a vertiable bastion against all things resembling wooden toy. His attacks, however, mean he cannot pay attention to Crossroads, causing him to miss her continuing ailment.

Decency aside, Tyrranis tears a path through anything and everything that can be destroyed in his path, including the very table that these things originally started on. Splintered pieces of doll and puppet fly through the air as Tyrranis assails them mercilessly, but a number of them have taken advantage of Cross's plight and more or less swarmed over her like happy little wooden puppies! Gosh, they're just SO EXCITED to have someone to play with!

As if that wasn't bad enough, the invisibility issue plaguing Crossroads has by now come to completion, removing her entirely from sight; the only indication she is even still there would be from the mass of toys still jumping on her, but in the midst of this, too, there is a quick twinkling flash of light, centered among all the toys pressing in on Crossroads' location.

Crossroads screams and swats and bats at the toys, bow leaving her grasp and dissapearing back into the air from which it had been summoned. She struggles wildly against them, kicks at them, tries to fight her way free but seems to get nowhere.

Tyrranis turns around, having murdered practically all the puppets that were before him, and notices Crossroad's sudden newfound ability to not be see. He shouts, lunging towards where he assumes she was, the puppets and her screams helping him along in his goal, and attempts to wrap an arm around the woman, trying his best to dislodge the puppets from her invisible form.

Tyrranis' arm lunges through the air, and contacts... only puppets. Crossroads' scream is the last indication that she was even there, and immediately following, all of the puppets not knocked away by Tyrranis have all clattered to the floor, immediately getting back up and now attempting to leap upon Tyrranis instead. Crossroads, invisible or otherwise, makes no further sounds.

Tyrranis stares blankly for several moments as his arm contacts nothing, looking only where Crossroads had exsisted. His mind blanks on immediate reactions, freezing his body and ceasing his attacks against the puppets for now. "Crossroads?"

The puppets still continue to throw themselves at Tyrranis, though most of them are coming from the floor at this time, and barely make it about waist-high at most. They cling to whatever cloth they can grab ahold of to secure themselves, hugging and chattering their wooden parts noisily and obnoxiously. In the midst of this, however, no sound that could be Crossroads can be heard. Either this is a terrible joke, or she's really gone.

Tyrranis waits a heartbeat longer, before moving forwards, utterly ignoring the puppets as if they did not exsist to him at the moment. His hands remain clamped around his weapons however, knuckles white with the force he grips them.

As Tyrranis turns to assumedly exit the room, the door swiftly slams closed in his face, a large wooden beam falling into place over a steel latch fitted into the wooden door. A sinister laugh is heard from everywhere and nowhere all at once, and the puppetlings attempt to scale Tyrranis like some kind of humanoid mountain, a few of them falling off and clattering woodenly to the floor below.

Tyrranis' eyes widen as the door closes before him, and he casts a look around the room before returning his gaze to the door. His hands open, the baseball bats dropping from them before color begins draining from the area surrounding his hands. "Listen to me Witch. You have one opportunity to return Crossroads to me, and release us. If you do not, then I promise you one thing."

Tyrranis' face hardens as a long diagonal scar crossing his abdomen opens up. "I will make the pain of your previous life. All of it that you ever experienced. I will make it seem as a prick on your finger."

There is no response, and the laugh dies out into the air in the same manner in which it first arrived. Still the puppets tirelessly throw themselves at Tyrranis, accomplishing very little of importance, and the door in front of him yet remains barred. A little strange for a door mechanism, though; isn't the blocker beam supposed to be on the exterior side of the door? Someone obviously isn't too bright.

One of the puppets comically trips over one of the dropped bats, hitting the floor face-first.

Blood drips from the cut as Tyrranis' summoned weapon materializes, a massive blade, the likes of which a normal human should not hold filters it's way into the world, and the giganto grips his fallen comrade's blade. "Then, weep for your future." Tyrranis raises the Breaker Blade in both hands before slamming it into the passageway, regardless of it's construction or not.

Being only wood, the door (and beam) splinter quite easily, breaking apart from the sheer force that Tyrranis is likely exerting upon the swung weapon, and exploding outward into many wooden pieces into the hallway beyond. A few puppets are caught in the swing as well, and, uh.. well, suffice it to say, they don't exist anymore.

Tyrranis leaves east.

Nightmare Labyrinth - Hallway
The lighting in this narrow corridor is even worse than the room
preceding it; in fact, the only illumination given to it is that which
cascades in from the adjoining rooms. The surfaces of both floor and wall
are rough, warped and split in many spots, emphasizing the timeline of
deterioration that this location has likely gone through by now. Two doors
on either sides of the hallway lead into separate rooms, though the passage
itself still leads further onward.

Tyrranis moves through the door with the motion of his slash, no doubt trailing wood and puppets as he does so. The giganto casts a glance up and down the hallway, scanning for any immediate threats before he turns his gaze to the other door in the hallway.

Strangely, an unseen force prevents the puppets from following Tyrranis as he moves into the hallway; an invisible field within the busted doorframe forces them back, and it is all they can to do hurl themselves against the barrier to vainly try and reach him, with no luck in doing so. The alternate door, leading to the Storage Closet, remains silent, though from somewhere to the south, a muffled cry of what could be considered pain is heard, sounding remarkably like Crossroads' voice.

Tyrranis turns to the south, not even bothering to look it over further. The giganto instead moves first, massive blade held at the ready as he follows the sound of Crossroads' voice.

Nightmare Labyrinth - Hallway South End
The end of this hallway comes upon the opening of yet another room,
though it appears to be much more brightly-lit than any of the others.
Sounds can be heard from inside, a combination of shuffling and woodworking,
with the occasional mumble of someone to themselves. The hallway edges bow
out slightly as they connect to the room, as if opening specifically for it.

As Tyrranis nears the entrance of the southernmost room, a large wooden structure drops from the ceiling, suspended on four large rope-like connectors to the ceiling itself. It has the body shape and makeup of the wooden puppets from the previous workshop, but the face is... grotesque. It looks as though someone had skinned the face off a living person and sewn it into the puppet's wooden head, but it has decayed severely and is mottled gray and shriveled. The large puppet blocks the way south, dancing about in eerie steps in front of Tyrranis as it dangles from its strings.

Tyrranis regards the construct for a few moments, before greyscale tendrils creep up his arm and intertwine with the large blade he holds. After a heartbeat, it solidifies as barbed wires, but several coiled lengths drop to his feet as well. Tyrranis twists his body oddly, almost turning away from the puppet before whipping around, hurling the Breaker Blade at the ropes connecting it to the ceiling like a discus.

The large puppet dances from its strings for a moment longer.. and pitifully drops into a heap on the wooden floor as Tyrranis' makeshift weaponrang severs its connection to the ceiling, and also its only mode of being held upright. It doesn't move from the piled heap in which it now lays, but the head is turned to look up at Tyrranis, a crooked, if forced, smile still present on the decayed face of its head.

Tyrranis reaches out, grabbing the trailing barbed wire as the puppet drops and yanking the weapon back towards himself. Blood runs down the length of his arm where the barbed wire connects, but the giganto stoops, picking up the blade after it slams to the ground, before stepping over the puppet and continuing south.

Shadow Labyrinth - Heart of Ascetic Folly
A small workshop opens up within this room, designed apparently for
only one person at a time. A large machine is laid across two tables on one
side of the room, and seems to be powered on, judging from the subtle
humming it is giving off. Piles of wooden planks are gathered up nearby,
and a workbench is set up next to it, covered with little wooden objects and
dolls, as well as tools and ornaments. Several lightbulbs hang from the
ceiling overhead, allowing significant brightness to behold the room's
interior. Strangely, however, lengths of thick, white rope-like substance
also hang from the ceiling, all throughout the room, but just barely out of
arm's reach.

The first thing(s) Tyrranis would notice upon entering this room would be the two people visible at the back end of the workshop, the first of which is Crossroads, strapped securely to a long wooden table with several of the thick rope-like objects seen dangling from above. The second would be the gnarled, twisted shape of an elderly woman, hunched over this table and Crossroads herself, with an array of sculpting tools laid out on a smaller side table nearby. The majority of her features can't beseen, given her distance and the shroudedness of the area in which she's working, but a small lamp-like light hangs over the end of Crossroads' head, and she's... not in the best of shape. Lines of blood run down the side of her head from various small incisions made on her forehead and cheeks, almost designerlike in shape; the culprit of these designs is likely the gleaming scalpel-like knife that the woman is gingerly clutching as she hunches over the prone Wishborn girl. Additionally, a pair of safety pins pierce Crossroads' upper and lower lips, holding them somewhat closed but not all the way, so as to discourage screaming of her own accord by knowing how much more it will hurt if she tries to do so. As if that weren't a sight enough, it isn't more than a thrice of seconds that Tyrranis enters the room, when two of the rope-like twine strandes snake downward at a rapid speed, attempting to ensnare Tyrranis and hold him tightly!

If Tyrranis' powers allowed him to manifest apparent rage as a form of attack, then a large portion of the Cleft would not exsist at this moment. A roar unlike any of his others rip from Tyrranis' lips as he enters the room, and immediately bursts into action. The massive blade is held above him, acting as almost an umbrella against the twine as he rushes forwards, his eyes wide and bloodshot, though latched on the Witch's wizened form.

As Tyrranis rushes, every last rope-twine that hangs from the ceiling suddenly dives down from the ceiling, swooping through the air and attempting to snag at some portion of Tyrranis, be it arms, legs, head, waist, or wherever they can get ahold of. The gnarled old hag doesn't seem intimidated by this, calmly standing up straight and looking his rage-infused face in the eye, with a malicious glint in her own pupil-less ones. "Ah, why so hasty? You haven't even yet stopped to appreciate my handiwork, dear Giganto." Its worth mentioning, at this time, that she is standing behind Crossroads and the table she's on, such that any direct charge would likely go through Crossroads to get to her.

Crossroads strains against her bonds. Her lips part and she lets out a pained muffled cry, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth as the pins pull at her lips. Whatever is said though is lost, as a choked sob overtakes her words and she quickly shuts her mouth. She looks towards Tyrranis, blinking the tears from her eyes. She is unable to turn her head though.

Tyrranis does his best to twist out of the way of the ropes, but even his berserking fury doesn't grant the giganto the ability to move that well. Instead, he takes to struggling, slashing at the twine with his massive blade and pulling at them to try and move forwards still.

The twine ropes continue to latch onto him at every possible location, but only enough to hold him in place, and not mummify him completely. Many of the ropes are sliced down from the ceiling and fall into limp coiled piles, but there are LOTS of them to go through, and they come from all sides. The old coot lowers her scalpel after a moment and addresses Tyrranis fully, brushing off a dirty apron on her stomach. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to help you, dearie. Why don't you hold your britches for a moment and listen to what I have to say? It could do you both some good for when you leave here in a few minutes."

Tyrranis struggles still, attempting to force his will on the ropes holding him down. He still glares at the Witch, but now opens up into more than roaring. "Free her, Witch. Do it now. Do it NOW!"

The hag smiles, crooked teeth on full display. "I fully plan to, dear, but in just a moment. First, I pose to you something intriguing. Something to make you think. What exactly do you get out of this, with her by your side? What does she do for you, besides stir up confusing feelings?" The old 'woman' taps Crossroads' cheek lightly as she speaks, almost endearingly. "Look at her. Look at what she's putting you through, even now. Don't you sometimes stop and think that she's holding you back from your full potential? From what you could ultimately be?" She removes her hand from Crossroads' face, looking Tyrranis in the face. "Look at yourself, Tyrranis." Her voice is cold, now, as she speaks his name. "Falling all over yourself just to save a doomed lass, as it is. And all at the risk of being cut down, never seen or heard from again, making no mark on the world? You could do and be so much more, accomplish so much more!"

Crossroads watches, eyes straining and looking on in horror as Tyrranis fights though she is unable to do anything to help him. She flinches and fights against the retrainsts as the witches finger touches her cheek, as though she was about to take the scaple to it again. As the old hags hand leave her face she is shaking but still. She slowly parts her lips, "Tyrranis..." She said slowly through gritted teeth, "I'm...Sorry."

Tyrranis stares still at the witch, speaking through gritted teeth in some small attempt to control himself. "What I do with my life is my own idea. It always has been, and always will be. I stay with Crossroads because she is what I wish my life to be bound to for now. I hold no delusions of being a man able to mark the world. In the end I will die as I was born, a body proceeded only by a pile of other dead bodies. Now free her."

The witch rolls her eyes contemptuously. "You're as thick as I'd feared. Typical for a gigantos, I just thought that your experience might have availed you more to what the world has to offer for someone with your ability. No matter. I fully plan to hold up my end of the deal, since you've made your case." She holds up one hand, and a pale green light envelopes her wringled fingers as a familiar-looking wooden bat materializes in her hand, an exact visual replica of the wooden bat that Tyrranis carries around whilst not transformed. "Know that I do this for both of us, Tyrranis. You'll see what I mean soon enough. And now, as promised, I will release her. Back into the abyss from which she originated!" Before her sentence is even finishing, she grips the bat with two hands and brings it down with frightening speed and intensity towards Crossroads' skull, very unlike an old woman ought to be able to perform!

Crossroads squeezed her eyes shut as she saw the witch grip bat. She clentched her fists, giving one last mental apology to Tyrranis before the bat came down. She quickly slipped into the darkness seeking an escape..

As the wooden club connects with Crossroads' skull, immediately upon doing so, the twine-binds that hold Tyrranis loosen and slip away, granting him his freedom, too, as promised. Unfortunately, the trauma caused by this attack has left Crossroads... less than conscious. And with a sizeable cave-in where her face used to be. That's probably not good.

Tyrranis lands on the ground with stiff legs, but inside his head there exsists only white-noise. Tyrranis looks from Crossroads to the Witch, and the Breaker Blade falls to the ground as the giganto's roars fall silent. The air in the area next to him loses color, but more than other summons, the air in the entire area chills noticably. Subtly shaking, Tyrranis' eyes now appear fully bloodshot, his irises surrounded entirely by red.

Blood wells from beneath Tyrranis' soul gem, which pulses once before falling from the Giganto's body. Beneath, a wound deeper than the rest of the giant's bleeds. The air finally regains it's color, revealing a blade obviously japanese in make, though in incredibly poor shape.

To say rust has eaten this sword would be a description of it in the past. The metal of the sword is thin and heavily chipped, making the edge ragged. Disturbingly however, red traces are evident on the blade. Further, Tyrranis' blood, both what was just drawn and what came from his body no longer seem to fall under the rule of gravity. Instead, they creep along his body, towards the base of the blade.

Tyrranis steps forwards now, not looking at the Witch in particular, instead possessing a thousand yard stare. The giganto no longer seems like himself, or anything like any other moods he slips into when summoning weapons.

The witch, allowing the binds to unravel from Crossroads' still body, gives her a small shove forwards, rolling it off the table and onto the floor in front of it with a dull 'whumpf'. She sneers at the body, then looks up at Tyrranis, unamused at what is taking place. "All it takes is a little nudge, sometimes, doesn't it? Come along, then. Show me the power I was promised in you by the princess. This is your destiny, your fate; your 'binding'! Not to that pitiful whelp of a Wishborn. This is what you were meant to be, alongside the rest of us!"

And then, as if on cue, a golden light fills the doorway leading into the workshop area, and from it steps... Lorastine, graceful in her appearance as she enters the Labyrinth from the outside world. The radiant glow hangs about her even as she arrives, and this causes the gnarled old hag on the other side of the room to grimace severely, an impediment to her plans.

Tyrranis points his blade at the Witch, heedless of her words or even Lorastine's appearance. The blood from his body that had been slowly trailing towards the sword now speeds up, entering the backside of the sword and running through the red 'veins'. From there, the blood fills the gaps in the blade's being, as if it had always been there, as part of the metal. In addition, more blood exits his body, forcefully.

Lorastine quickly examines the situation only to see Tyrranis was covered in his own blood as well as his weapon. She hadn't seen him use so much blood before when he fought before, that she knew of anyway. He didn't seem to notice her, "Tyrranis! I'm here to help you!" she calls as she quickens her pace to close the gap between them.

"No! I didn't ask for your intervention! Get out of here, you wretch!" With a gesture, three of the sharp-bladed woodcarving instruments on the table next to her rise into the air, subsequently rocketing off toward Lorastine in specific, and not Tyrranis, bladed-ends first!

Tyrranis shifts stance on his grip of the katana, and charges at the Witch, now holding the blade in both hands instead of just one hand. With a sweeping motion, he swings the blood blade at the Witch, still completely silent in doing so.

Lorastine flinches at the slight glint of metal skyrocketing in her direction. She comes to a complete stop and quickly wraps herself in her wings forming a rather unorthodox sheild. The blades stuck into her lumiencsent feathered wings causing the hylian to winch slightly at the sharp pain, but it was better then being hit directly. Unfortnuately she also blocked her vision with her gold wings so she didn't witness Tyrranis' charge.

The witch only has time to scowl at Lorastine's quick reaction to her attack, before Tyrranis is upon her with his blood-fused weapon... and is cut clean in two, as though her corporeality was never very much there in the first place. There is little resistance to the weapon's slice, even through her clothes, as it cuts from one side of her to the other, vile black liquid seeping out from the severed flesh that is exposed as a result of the attack!

The witch utters not a sound as she is cleaved in twain, and her face only bears the same scorn that she bore Lorastine just seconds before.

Tyrranis does not stop, instead he sweeps with the blade again, now using an upwards diagonal slash, before following up with a horizontal slash... this one aimed above the Witch, as if attacking wires that may be holding her up.

Lorastine parts her wings and watches as Tyrranis eliminates the witch with brutal strikes. There was something different about him this time, he seemed almost angry and filled with rage. He didn't seem to be in danger like she originally thought when Cross had told her. He cut though the witch like warm butter, but his style of attack made her a bit uneasy.

local> The witch's top half is carved further from Tyrranis's upward slash, severing her top half from the ragged flesh of her midsection to one side of her neck, leaving three pieces in total at this time; her bottom half has slumped to the ground at this point, but Tyrranis' attack has juggled the other two pieces further, and though he seeks to sever somethin above, his blade only (seemingly) cuts through empty air, the witch apparently being made of her own doing and not the same puppetry as was the rest of the labyrinth.

Tyrranis reaches out, grabbing the Witch's head as it floats through the air, borne there of his attacks. He the whips around, flinging the head back towards the machine set in one side of the room. From there, he slowly stalks forwards, following the head he had tossed that way.

Lorastine watches a bit worried before she finally decides enough was enough. "Tyrranis!" she called out as she ran on foot to catch up with him since her wings were too injured to fly. "Tyrranis, you can stop, you win!" she said as she quickly circled in front of him. "Its over. The witch is dead, everything is ok." she tries to give a slight smile despite pain in her wings and the small red spots where the blades had connected.

Disturbingly, the head flies through the air toward the machine, but as it nears the humming piece of equipment, it begins to disintegrate in midair; the same can be said of the other two pieces of the witch, now that her lifeforce has left her and she exists no longer. A rumble begins to shake the foundation of the workshop, the starting point of a familiar activity that tends to occur once a Witch no longer has control over her domain.

Tyrranis stops for a moment as the Witch begins dis-integrating, and turns his bloodied eyes to Lorastine for a moment. He turns then, stepping back towards Crossroads' fallen body, still being silent.

Lorastine frowns as he turns around without saying a word to her. "Tyrranis?" she asked as the place started to shake and break down as the zone began collapsing. She walked over behind him, "We need to get out of here. I'm sure Crossroads is expecting us..." she trailed off as she notices the corpse he is walking towards.

Piercing rays of light suddenly begin blasting holes on the fabric of the workshop! Two, then four, then seven.. the entire room gradually becomes filled with light from created holes from the outside world as the labyrinth begins to deform! In little time, a jagged split courses through the roof of the establishment, tearing a blinding hole in the fabric of reality and blotting out all senses..!

Peaceful Fields of Guardia
Exuberant as they are, these green fields have come to an end, southwise,
leaving one's choice of direction to go north or northeast, or back westward
to the main road. A rather large mountain looms over the southwest area,
with a few scattered clouds swiveling around in the distance, as well.

..And when the light subsides, the fields of Guardia takes its place in the surroundings, reforming in the real world where the labyrinth no longer exists. A sparkling black gem lies in the grass nearby, glinting dangerously. Sadly, Crossroads' body is nowhere to be founds, lost forever to the last reaches of the labyrinth in its demise.

Tyrranis stops over the fallen body, looking over it for a long while as the zone collapses around them. Once fully collapsed, Tyrranis lets out one more massive, shaking roar, his entire body shaking as if venting the built up hate he had. The blood coating his sword suddenly loses it's form, subcuming to gravity and falling to the ground as his magical form also drops.

Lorastine walks over to touch Tyrranis on the shoulder as he seemed to be greiving. "Its going to be ok, Tyrranis." she said her hand sort of hovering almost afraid to touch him. He looked so distraught to her it was upsetting. The corpse, even if it was only for a second, it looked like Cross to her.

A gentle wind rolls through the fields, and the Grief Seed sparkles gently amidst the grass underfoot. It looks like a pretty nice day outside, for being the tail end of winter.

Tyrranis shakes still, his body shaking either from the rage still, or the blood he is losing. The giganto stares at the ground for several seconds longer, panting before he begins stumbling back towards town. Quietly, probably the quietest Tyrranis has ever been, the giganto speaks to Lorastine. "Collect the seed. Clean yourself. Return to your home."

Lorastine stands for a moment before collecting the seed and walking jogging back to Tyrranis. "Where are you going?" she said almost like a stern mother. "Those wounds need to be treated immediately! I'm may not be a cleric, but I learned a thing or two when I stayed at the Monnestry." She pretty much blocked his way trying to force him to atleast stop.

Tyrranis stares blankly at Lorastine, before looking down at the wounds covering his body. He looks back to Lorastine, and shakes his head. "These wounds do not matter. Nothing. Nothing matters right now Lorastine."

Lorastine changes her expression to almost a glare. "That's a lie and you know it!" she said raising her tone of voice. "You've probably lost a lot of blood and if you lose anymore it will kill you. I don't want anyone else to die, not if I can help it."

Crossroads approached where the portal used to be at a awkward, half stumbling run. She dressed in her cafe uniform save for the ears which had fallen off somewhere between the cafe and the fields, and the high heels which she she had removed so they wouldn't hinder her. She was out of breath and shaking, knees weak and threatening to give out. She paused when she caught sight of Tyr and Lora, mouth falling open. He was still alive! Tears flooding to her eyes and she screamed his name, before running towards him.

Tyrranis turns, looking dumbly as he hears his name called. Upon seeing Crossroads, the giganto blinks, his mind not fully processing the fact that she was standing right there currently. His body slumps as this happens, before the big man drops to his knees, his emotional state shot to hell right now.

Lorastine doesn't looked surprised when Crossroads appears, afterall if it wasn't for her, Lorastine wouldn't have made it there. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Tyrranis' large frame drop to his knees. She quickly held out her arms to quickly stop him from falling over. "Cross! He's in really bad shape..."

When Crossroads reaches Tyrranis she looks over his injuries takes him into a gentle embrace, half holding him and half trying to guide him down to the ground. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She whispered to him, kissing his forehead twice. "I abandoned you Tyr. I..." She shook her head. "Please, try to lay down. We need to slow the bleeding."

Tyrranis just ends up closing his eyes, hugging Crossroads and clinging to her. "You are alive." The amount of joy in his voice is a bit mixed, as Tyrranis just finds himself tired now, allowing Cross to lay him down. "Stuff the wounds. Keep pressure on them."